(Foto: Natee Meepian/Shutterstock.com)
Simpl.energy has raised an undisclosed amount from a group of investors, including Rabobank and Arches Capital. The Utrecht startup offers software for the smarter use of existing power capacity. RoomRaccoon, supplier of hotel reservation software in the cloud, is strengthening its position in Belgium thanks to its first acquisition there. The company from Breda bought Lobbi PMS, a Ghent-based software supplier for small to medium-sized hotels.
Money for Simpl.energy
Simpl.energy, founded in 2023, helps companies make optimal use of solar panels, charging stations and batteries by creating space on the grid connection. ‘A company’s grid connection sometimes becomes overloaded, comparable to traffic jams on the road,’ explains co-founder Jorrit Salverda. ‘Such a power traffic jam occurs because devices want to have or supply electricity at the same time. To solve this traffic jam, you can increase the connection or distribute the power more intelligently. Our software helps companies distribute the available power, reducing this peak.’
This traffic controller’s system for electricity will go live at the first locations in the coming months. With the additional capital from Rabobank and Arches Capital, among others, Simpl.energy wants to scale up to multiple locations in the Netherlands in 2025. The startup from the cathedral city also wants to make a next investment round to accelerate growth. The company focuses mainly on campuses, real estate owners and the transport and logistics sector.
Belgian purchase of RoomRaccoon
RoomRaccoon has major ambitions internationally and made its first foreign purchase at the end of 2023: the acquisition of Irish peer IHotelligence. The second deal recently followed with the purchase of Lobbi PMS in Belgium. With the incorporation of Lobbi PMS, the Breda company is expanding its user base in the Benelux and beyond with more than three hundred accommodations. Existing Lobbi hoteliers will benefit from an expanded range of solutions offered by RoomRaccoon.
Tijmen van Dijl, co-founder and director of RoomRaccoon, sees the collaboration with Lobbi OMS as the next step in our efforts ‘to deliver the world’s best hotel management software.’ RoomRaccoon is based in the Netherlands and has offices abroad in Cape Town, Lisbon, Valencia and now Ghent.