By Lea Mira, HTN staff writer - 6.14.2024
Canary Technologies, a leader in hotel guest management technology, has secured $50 million in a Series C funding round. The funding round was led by Insight Partners, a global software investor, with participation from existing investors F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y-Combinator, and Commerce Ventures. In October, 2022, the company raised $30 million in Series B funding. This latest funding brings Canary’s total capital raised to nearly $100 million, positioning it among the top-funded companies in the hotel technology sector.
The continued investment from Canary’s backers speaks to the company’s strong market performance and growth potential. Canary Technologies is currently utilized by over 20,000 hoteliers worldwide, including major brands such as Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, and Four Seasons.
Harman Singh Narula, CEO and Co-founder of Canary Technologies, emphasized the transformative impact of AI on the hospitality industry in a press statement. According to Narula, Canary’s enterprise-grade AI solutions are designed to streamline hotel operations, enhance efficiency, and improve the guest experience. He views the recent funding as a testament to the team’s efforts and the significant impact their technology is having on the industry.
Insight Partners’ Managing Director, Thomas Krane, noted that despite a challenging year for growth and execution in the tech sector, Canary Technologies managed to exceed its targets. This performance motivated Insight Partners to increase their investment in the company.
Canary Technologies is known for its end-to-end Guest Management Platform, which is currently undergoing one of the largest deployments of guest-facing AI technology in the hospitality industry. The platform includes features such as Mobile Check-In/Checkout, Tablet Registration, Upsells, Guest Messaging, Canary AI, and Digital Tipping.
SJ Sawhney, President and Co-founder of Canary Technologies, stated that the company remains focused on helping hoteliers modernize their technology stack to deliver superior guest experiences. The new funding will be used to build a world-class team and accelerate the company’s innovation roadmap.
Narula and Sawhney bring extensive experience in both hospitality and technology to Canary Technologies. Narula has a background in global strategy at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and management consulting at Bain & Company. He holds degrees from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Sawhney previously led product and technology at Stayful, a booking platform for independent and boutique hotels, and has founded multiple venture-backed technology companies. He is a graduate of Columbia University.
Canary Technologies’ solutions are designed to eliminate paper processes, boost revenue, increase staff efficiency, improve the guest experience, and reduce chargebacks and payment fraud. The company’s technology is currently used by hoteliers in over 80 countries.
One of Canary’s clients is Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which last year implemented Canary’s AI-enabled Guest Engagement Platform across more than 6,000 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. Designed to help elevate the guest experience while increasing hotel revenue, the platform includes Canary’s Mobile Check-In, Mobile Checkout, Dynamic Upsell, and Guest Messaging products, which are powered by Canary Hospitality AI. Benefits for Wyndham franchisees include: a streamlined check-in and checkout process that reduces wait times as well as fraud (eliminating the need to manually exchange credit cards, 
IDs, or registration forms); the ability to boost revenue by offering guests upgrades and add-on amenities, from booking all the way through checkout; and enabling front desk and concierge teams to easily communicate with hotel guests at scale, saving valuable time through automated, broadcast, and direct messages.
Another notable client is IHG Hotels & Resorts, which has adopted Canary’s digital tipping solution. This initiative aims to improve employee recognition and enhance the guest experience across IHG’s global network of hotels. The decline in cash usage has impacted traditional tipping practices, potentially affecting staff compensation and morale. Canary’s digital tipping solution addresses this challenge by providing a convenient and secure way for guests to tip hotel staff electronically.
Drury Hotels implemented Canary’s Digital Authorization technology for Drury’s more than 150 hotels in 26 states. Drury will use Canary’s Digital Authorization solution to upgrade compliance and security to keep customer data safe and protect their properties from credit card fraud. Canary Digital Authorizations is a PCI Level-1 compliant solution that replaces paper and PDF credit card authorization forms to help hotels reduce chargebacks and fraud. In addition, the solution helps make the guest experience more seamless and reduces the workload on hotel staff.
Last year, the company launched the beta version of Canary AI, a fully enabled generative AI engine that will be embedded across Canary’s entire Guest Management System. The product is designed to assimilate relevant general hotel information from existing resources about the property and surrounding area in order to generate auto-responses using contextual guest information like reservation details and guest profiles. The AI model is trained over time to craft the most relevant answers based on the most common guest responses. Canary’s new feature keeps customer data safe while helping hoteliers increase staff efficiency, enabling them to save hours in responding to guest inquiries. It also saves guests time, providing answers to their top-of-mind questions directly and instantly.
Canary Technologies’ funding round and continued innovation in AI and guest management solutions highlight its growing influence in the hospitality technology sector. The company’s focus on modernizing hotel operations and enhancing the guest experience positions it well for future growth and expansion.