TRAVEL, HOSPITALITY & EVENTS TECH
Travel and hospitality technology consolidates through a small, repeat set of acquirers and sponsors. They buy from each other, they sit on the same panels, and they have views on your category formed long before you run a process. Being known to them early is worth more than any number in a model.
Transactions completed firmwide
Aggregate transaction value
Cross-border deals transacted
YOUR BANKER
David leads our Travel, Hospitality & Events Technology practice. With more than 70 completed transactions representing over $30B in aggregate value, David leads every meeting, negotiation, and strategic outreach directly.
Managing Director, Travel, Hospitality & Events Technology
WHAT WE DO
Whether preparing for a strategic exit, private equity recapitalization, or structured growth equity raise, we position travel and hospitality software companies for maximum market valuation.
We put our influence to work getting you the best valuation and deal terms.
Institutional capital raising engineered to support rapid scale without unnecessary dilution.
David Lamb has closed more than 70 transactions representing over $30 billion in aggregate value, with deep standing in travel, hospitality and events technology. Prismm to Blackstone, vOffice to Visit Group, Easy booking to Zucchetti, Kayak to Priceline, Viator to TripAdvisor, and IPO work for Airbnb, Homeaway, Kayak and Eventbrite.
Direct booking infrastructure, channel managers, rate parity engines, and global distribution systems (GDS).
Cloud-native hotel PMS, multi-property management, front-desk automation, and guest folio management.
3D spatial floor planning, ticketing platforms, event registration, attendee engagement, and venue logistics.
Virtual venue walkthroughs, interactive mapping, digital concierges, and immersive guest experience tools.
Mobile keyless entry, guest messaging, contactless check-in, automated upsell, and in-room IoT controls.
Vacation rental property management, dynamic pricing algorithms, turnover automation, and owner portals.
Niche travel discovery platforms, experiential marketplaces, curated tour booking, and dynamic packaging.
Table management, point-of-sale integrations, kitchen display systems, inventory control, and staff scheduling.
Where our senior bankers trained before Nfluence.
YOUR OPTIONS
Every banker says they run a competitive process. Here is what actually changes depending on which route you take.
Enough that no single party sets the terms
What the market will actually pay, priced by competition
Four to seven months
Highest, and planned for
Real alternatives, including walking away
Managed deliberately, under NDA and staged disclosure
| Metric | Take the inbound call | Run a limited process | Run a full process |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyers at the table | One | Two or three | Enough that no single party sets the terms |
| What you learn about the market | One party's view of your value | A partial read | What the market will actually pay, priced by competition |
| Time required | Weeks, mostly reactive | Two to four months | Four to seven months |
| Disruption to the business | Low at first, high if it drags | Moderate | Highest, and planned for |
| Your negotiating position | Whatever they decide to offer | Some leverage on price and terms | Real alternatives, including walking away |
| Confidentiality | Easiest to contain | Manageable | Managed deliberately, under NDA and staged disclosure |
Timeframes are typical ranges for middle-market technology transactions and vary by company, sector, and market conditions.
Acquired by Cvent (Blackstone)
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Has been acquired by LEMNIS
Financial advisor on its sale to LEMNIS
Strategic recapitalization
Lead placement agent
Acquired by Visit Group, a portfolio company of PSG
Financial advisor to the seller
Has been acquired by Mode Mobile
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Has been acquired by Zucchetti
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Growth debt financing from Trinity Capital and Level Equity Financing
Lead placement agent
Has been acquired by Monex Financial Group / Coincheck
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Acquired by Aldrich Capital Partners
Exclusive financial advisor to the company
Advised PracticeSuite on acquisition of MicroMD
Exclusive financial advisor to the buyer
Received financing from Heritage Bank of Commerce
Capital raise lead
Carve-out from Henry Schein acquired by PracticeSuite
Exclusive financial advisor to the buyer
Acquired by Level Access, a portfolio company of KKR & JMI Equity
Financial advisor to the seller
Has been acquired by Charlesbank Capital Partners
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Has been acquired by Yieldstreet
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Follow-on public offering
Financial advisor on follow-on equity offering
Has been acquired by Constellation Software
Exclusive financial advisor to the seller
Advised on strategic acquisition of Rotor Video
Exclusive financial advisor to the buyer
* Select transactions shown. Includes current Nfluence bankers' experience at prior firms. Full track record available upon request.
INSIGHTS
Sector reports, valuation multiples, and M&A trends in travel, hospitality, and event technology.
How private equity sponsors are assembling end-to-end hotel tech stacks around cloud PMS cores.
Read moreValuation trends across primary ticketing, cashless venue payments, and fan engagement tools.
Read moreM&A volume in financial services rose 3% while total deal value fell roughly 30%, with top transactions taking the lion's share of liquidity.
Read moreThe accelerating shift of private equity and strategic investment into B2B workforce development and technical credentialing.
Read moreTHE MARKET READ
Projected global travel & hospitality technology market spending through 2027.
Of hospitality and venue operators accelerating cloud and contactless guest technology.
Average valuation premium for integrated vertical software platforms with payments attachment.
This is a consolidating market with a defined acquirer set rather than a fragmented one. That cuts both ways. The buyer list is short enough to know completely, which is an advantage if your banker actually knows it, and a disadvantage if you run a process that reaches the same five names a generalist would find on a screen.
For companies operating between $10M and $50M in ARR, buyer interest is heavily concentrated on software that drives direct bookings, reduces operational labor costs, or unlocks embedded financial services. Positioning your business effectively requires communicating not just gross volume or GMV, but software margins, customer acquisition unit economics, and platform stickiness across multi-property or multi-venue enterprise customers.
Phocuswright Research, Skift Hospitality Tech Index, and Nfluence Partners proprietary market intelligence.
WHERE WE'LL BE
Meet David at HITEC (San Antonio, TX; June 15-17), Skift Global Forum (New York, NY; September 22-24), IMEX America (Las Vegas, NV; October 13-15), Phocuswright Conference (Ft. Lauderdale, FL; November 17-19).
Diplomat Beach Resort. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
David Lamb, Managing Director, Travel, Hospitality & Events Technology
Not a pitch, and not a booth conversation. Bring the question you would actually want answered before you run a process. What companies like yours traded for this year. Which acquirers are active in your category right now and which have gone quiet. Whether your timing is right or whether you are eighteen months early.
You will get a straight answer, and if we are not the right firm David will say so and point you somewhere better.
Senior calendars fill well before the conference. The event is too large to navigate by drop-in, so the meetings that happen are the ones booked in advance.
Not going to Florida? David is in New York and San Francisco through the fall. Book a call instead.
FAQ
Talk to us. We'll give you two numbers: the conservative one and the outlier. In this market the number moves on recurring software revenue, retention across multi-property customers, and how much payments revenue you attach. The outlier is usually a buyer outside the obvious five, often a European or Asian platform expanding into North America. When a foreign strategic competes with a domestic one, the price changes.
Not yet. The buyers here know each other, and they often know you through integrations. They see your data, and they know nobody else has been called. Check your partner agreements for change-of-control or exclusivity terms first. Then let David put credible alternatives at the table. He's spent decades with this acquirer set, so the alternatives are real.
We plan around it from day one. Everything starts under NDA. Property-level pricing and customer names stay blinded until late diligence, and the most sensitive data goes through a clean team. A senior banker controls who sees what, start to finish.
No. In a market this small, being known early is worth more than any model. The acquirers and sponsors here form views on your category long before you run a process. Early is when we make sure they see you the right way, and when we flag what to fix: contract terms, revenue mix, payments attach. If you're not a fit for us, David will say so and point you somewhere better.
More than you'd think. Minority recaps, growth equity, and growth debt can get early holders liquid while you keep control. We don't earn recurring fees from sponsors, so we have no reason to steer you toward one. We pick the structure that fits.
They'll separate the two, so you should do it first. Buyers value recurring software and payments margin very differently from pass-through booking volume. Report them separately, show margin on each, and show payments attach growing with software adoption. A blended number invites a blended discount.
Not if you show it honestly. Buyers in travel and events expect seasonality. They penalize surprises, not cycles. Show trailing-twelve-month numbers, same-season comparisons, and retention through the slow months. A buyer who understands your seasonality pays for it. One who discovers it in diligence reprices.
Usually both, at the same table. Strategics pay for distribution, a missing module, or a customer base. Sponsors pay for a platform they can build around. The best outcomes come when they compete. Because this buyer set is small and repeat, David already knows which sponsors are assembling which stacks.
No. It often expands them. Independent and mid-market properties are a segment large platforms struggle to reach efficiently. A sticky independent base with good unit economics is exactly what many consolidators want. What matters is proving retention and expansion across that base.
They add value or create friction, depending on the contracts. Buyers will read your channel manager, GDS, OTA, and payments agreements for change-of-control terms, exclusivity, and revenue share. Strong integrations with the right platforms are an asset buyers pay for. We review those agreements with you before buyers do.
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