HotelsAroundYou
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
HotelsAroundYou was a Mumbai-based last-minute hotel booking platform launched in 2013 by Mohsin Dingankar, Animesh Choudhary and Harsha Nallur. It listed limited, location-based hotels with unsold inventory and promised the day's best price: users could book day-transit or night-use stays, and the company earned a commission on each booking. It raised $125,400 in seed funding in October 2014 from Venture Nursery-associated angel investors and Artha India Ventures.
02 / HotelsAroundYou FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The company ran out of money and could not raise more. It closed operations amid a funding crunch after failing to secure a follow-up round beyond its 2014 seed funding; it was already in defunct mode by mid-2016. It also faced deeply entrenched competition from hotel-booking incumbents with decades of experience and user trust. The founders quietly moved on to other companies as it shut down in 2017.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Launched
HotelsAroundYou launched in Mumbai as a last-minute hotel booking platform with limited, location-based hotel listings.
- Seed round
The company raised $125,400 in seed funding from Venture Nursery-associated angel investors and Artha India Ventures.
- Shut down
HotelsAroundYou shut down in 2017 after a funding crunch and the inability to raise a follow-up round; it had been in defunct mode since mid-2016.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Launched in 2013 in Mumbai; last-minute booking platform for unsold hotel inventory.
- 02
Raised $125,400 seed funding in October 2014.
- 03
Could not raise a follow-up round; severe cash crunch; defunct from mid-2016.
- 04
Shut down in 2017 (the recorded 2017 shutdown); founders moved on to other companies.
- 05
No reliable realized loss figure was disclosed.