Kayak's Hotel Partner Life House Receives $60 Million in New Financing

With Kayak Miami Beach operating and two additional Kayak-branded hotels in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on the way, Kayak co-led a $60 million financing round for its hotel operations software provider Life House.

Life House pitches itself as "the first lifestyle hotel company to ever be fully backed by Silicon Valley," but it is more of a revenue management, and finance and hotel operations software provider than a hotel brand. The company's software powers the operations of more than 50 hotels in North America.

Kayak, based in Connecticut, co-led the Series C financing round with iNovia; also participating were Tiger Global, Derive Ventures, JLL, Trinity Ventures, Sound Ventures, and Cooley LLP, among others. New York-based Life House has raised around $100 million since its founding in 2017.

Life House founder and CEO Rami Zeidan said Life House and Kayak have integrated some engineering and product teams to collaborate on hotel operations software for independent hotels that both companies can leverage. He characterized it as a "good marriage" because the two companies are aligned on a mission to streamline and reinvent operations and the guest experience at independent hotels.

"We have plenty of capital to invest in great ideas and companies at the Kayak corporate level," said Kayak co-founder and CEO Steve Hafner.

He declined to disclose the amount of the financial commitment to Life House, but termed it "significant."

"We're actively working with Life House to build new accommodation software," Hafner said. "It's already being used at Kayak Miami Beach and soon our Mexico locations." Kayak plans to open the Kayak Luna - Playa del Carmen and Kayak Sol - Playa del Carmen, with both running Life House software.

Correction: Derive Ventures participating in the financing round, and not Thayer Ventures, as originally reported.