Startups

There weren't big numbers this week, but there were investments from some big-name venture capital firms: F-Prime Capital, JetBlue Ventures, Thayer Ventures, and Plug and Play.

Kyte wants to simplify car rentals, while yet another short-term rental platform, this time in Germany, raises millions.

Lodgify plans to expand its short-term rental management software globally, BookOutdoors wants to bring campsites into the 21st century, and Way exited stealth mode with a full list of clients.

It’s always notable when either Insight Partners or Y-Combinator is backing something. Canary Technologies reported investment by not one, but both. Oh, and it’s got backing from Fidelity-affiliated F-Prime Capital, too.

There’s a theme here: short-term rentals. All the startups funded this week aim to make bookings and operations easier in some way for vacation rental owners and operators – another sign of a strong and growing industry.

Volantio, an optimization startup that has many airline customers, said on Thursday it had closed a $6 million Series A fundraising.

Guesty, a startup that simplifies the operation and marketing of short-term rental and vacation rentals, said on Wednesday it had acquired two companies — Kigo and HiRUM — to expand the brand's…

AOL co-founder Steve Case never lost his passion for startups. His new book reminds us that innovation can thrive anywhere in America outside of New York and Silicon Valley and help reimagine U.S. cities big and small. Take note, travel industry.

It's unexpected that Flyr would go after the hospitality business, given that it still has a lot of airlines yet to win over to its revenue management services. But this acquisition is a sign of how all verticals in travel will be impacted by techniques for running operations based on data science.

Guesty has acquired Yield Planet, a hotel-focused revenue and distribution management platform.