Trentino AI firm Smartness raises €47M to scale
▼ Summary
– Trentino-based Smartness raised €47 million in Series B funding, the largest round for an Italian vertical SaaS company, bringing total funding to over €60 million.
– The company offers B2B SaaS products for hospitality businesses, automating workflows like customer service, operations, marketing, and accounting.
– The round was led by United Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with Partech as a returning investor from a previous €13 million Series A in 2023.
– Smartness has over 5,000 customers in 41 countries, reported 10% monthly organic growth, and aims to become a €1 billion category leader.
– The company plans to use the funding to strengthen its competitive edge in hospitality, focusing on AI-powered operational systems and building an Agentic System for hotels.
A Trentino-based vertical SaaS company specializing in hospitality technology has secured €47 million in Series B funding, marking the largest funding round ever completed by an Italian company in this segment. The round combines primary and secondary equity alongside debt financing.
Smartness delivers a B2B software suite designed to help hotels and vacation rental operators digitize and streamline their daily operations. Its platform automates a wide range of workflows, including customer service, administrative tasks, marketing campaigns, accounting, and property management, both online and offline.
The funding round was co-led by United Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with participation from Partech, a returning investor that previously backed the startup in its €13 million Series A round in 2023. This latest injection brings Smartness’s total capital raised to over €60 million.
CEO and co-founder Luca Rodella told EU-Startups that the company has already surpassed the €10 million revenue milestone. “We have the ingredients in place,” Rodella said, “to scale toward €100 million and eventually become a €1 billion category leader.”
Founded in 2020, Smartness originally focused on dynamic pricing software but has since expanded into CRM, property management systems, and AI-driven operational tools. The company now serves more than 5,000 customers across 41 countries. It reports 10% organic monthly growth, excluding contributions from acquisitions, and has grown more than sixfold.
The broader European hospitality tech market is heating up. Startups in the sector collectively raised €343 million in recent rounds. Notable examples include Amsterdam-based Mews, which secured €255 million in Series D to invest in AI and automation; German Nesto, which raised €11 million for AI workforce management in restaurants; and happyhotel, which closed a €6.5 million Series A for AI-driven revenue management agents.
Smartness has already completed several M&A deals, and its long-term ambition is to build the world’s first Agentic System for hotels and vacation rentals. With this new capital, the company plans to strengthen its competitive edge in the hospitality industry, capitalizing on surging demand for AI-powered operational systems.
(Source: The Next Web)