GrowthCurve Capital Buys Duetto in Bet on Hotel Rate Setting Tech

Duetto, the hotel revenue management company, said Thursday that it has been acquired by private equity firm GrowthCurve Capital.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

GrowthCurve is acquiring the business from Warburg Pincus affiliates and other shareholders, Duetto said.

San Francisco-based Duetto provides hotel companies with a software platform meant to streamline revenue management, online marketing, merchandising, and data-based analysis. Hotels can use the products to set room rates that adjust automatically based on market changes.

GrowthCurve Capital says it is a “control-oriented private equity firm focused on building businesses by utilizing data, analytics and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to seek to accelerate growth and drive long-term value.” 

GrowthCurve plans to accelerate Duetto’s AI strategy, launch new lines of business, and expand into new markets.  

Duetto works with more than 6,000 hotel and casino resort properties, according to a press release in late June. The company increased that number from 4,000 in its marketing materials shortly after its February acquisition of MiceRate, a pricing and booking engine for meetings and events. 

Clients include Radisson Hotel Group, Louvre Hotels Group, Nordic Choice Hotels, NH Hotels, and others.

Some of Duetto’s competitors include IDeaS and Cendyn Group’s Guestrev, formerly called Rainmaker. 

David Woolenberg is the CEO of Duetto. He joined the company as chief revenue officer in 2018 and took his current role in 2020.

The company has raised a total of more than $141 million in venture capital, most recently $80 million in series D funding in 2018 led by Warburg Pincus. At that time, Duetto had more than 2,500 hotel and casino clients. 

Jefferies was the lead financial advisor on the deal. William Blair was an advisor, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP served as legal counsel to Duetto. Houlihan Lokey was the financial advisor for GrowthCurve, and Davis Polk & Wardwell were the legal counsel for the deal.