Bangalore-based Stay Simple Resorts have announced that it has raised angel funding from marquee investors, including the family office of Sudhir & Ms. Shalini Sethi [Sudhir Sethi is the Chairman of IDG Ventures India] and Praveen Someshwar [Sales Head, PepsiCo, AsiaPac].
Stay Simple Resorts is a value- focussed mid-budget leisure resort chain,founded in 2008 by four professionals led by the Founder and Managing Director, Gopalkrishna Kulkarni. Gopal is a serial entrepreneur who promoted the private equity backed Perfint Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., after a long stint at GE Healthcare.
Stay Simple currently owns, manages and operates about 500 rooms in 16 resorts in 12 popular tourist destinations across India: Coorg, Goa, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Wayanad, Mysore, Mussoorie, Jaipur, Pushkar, Jaisalmer etc.
With this funding, Stay Simple is aiming to expand to newer geographies, and enhance capacity to more than 2000 rooms in the next six months.
Gopalkrishna Kulkarni, the Founder and MD, said
This has given us an impetus to grow and maximise our potential. The aim is to be present in at least 400 destinations in the next 3 years. We have already served over 1,00,000 customers, many of them being loyal customers.Closing a significant round of funding is acknowledgement of our proposition and underscores the huge potential of the mid-budget segment of the market. We are really excited and now better-equipped to realize our ambition of becoming the largest and most-preferred brand in the leisure space.
Mr. Sudhir Sethi said
I am delighted to be associated with Stay Simple’s vision of creating a countrywide brand in the value- focussed mid-budget leisure segment. Stay Simple has pioneered the concept of a hospitality brand that resonates with travellers who are looking for value-for-money stays. This is exemplified by the brand ‘Stay Simple’.The team at Stay Simple is experienced and has grown the company in a steady and pragmatic manner.
About Stay Simple Resorts
Stay Simple Resorts is a value-focussed mid-budget leisure resort chain, founded in 2008 by four professionals led by the Founder and Managing Director, Gopalkrishna Kulkarni. The other founders are Mr. Vinayak Harshavardhan, Mr. Shriram Subramanian [founder of InGovern Research Services] and Mr. Krishna Kumar [senior executive at Nokia Networks]. The founders have collectively over 80 years of experience. The company has also built a formidable team of experienced executives in the leisure, tourism and hotel industry.
Stay Simple currently owns, manages and operates about 500 rooms in 16 resorts in 12 popular tourist destinations across India such as Coorg, Goa, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Wayanad, Mysore, Nagarhole, Mussoorie, Jaipur, Pushkar, Jaisalmer and Sams Dunes.
Stay Simple Resorts was founded to meet the demands of a budget conscious holiday-maker. The company prides in providing a clean, warm and affordable holiday experience to travellers, which is often missing or taken for granted in the largest unorganised mid-budget resorts.
Stay Simple’s strategy is to:
- Create a “large” inventory of rooms, pan India leisure destinations, using the long-term lease and managed model – Asset Light
- Select property in major tourist destinations, with existing facilities equivalent to that of a 3 star property [swimming pool, conference room, restaurant, etc.] – Choice Destination
- Use technology to ease operations and aid scalability – Technology
- Invest in the brand to significantly improve occupancy rates – Brand
[Image Credit* – Stay Simple Resorts]