Zaplox’s U.S. Success Story

How this SMB from Sweden in the Information Technology and Services industry made it in the U.S.A

Country Of Origin Sweden

U.S. HQ. New York, USA

Industry Information Technology and Services

Year Founded 2010

Number Of Employees About 80

Annual revenue $4.4M

 

About Zaplox

Zaplox is a renowned provider of a mobile guest journey platform with mobile key services to the global hotel market. Notably, Zaplox operates globally while offering the hospitality industry a turnkey platform. The platform includes a mobile guest journey app or SDK (Software Development Kit) for managing the guest experience. The platform is based on a secure and efficient system. Using mobile technology, Zaplox offers hotels and their guests more value by a better way of checking in and out. Besides, the system assists in the distribution of mobile keys directly to the guests’ smartphones. The company was founded in 2010 in Sweden.

Expanding to the US

 

That technology by Zaplox saves time and costs. It also gives the hotel a direct communication channel with the guest and thereby offering possibilities for generating additional revenue. The Zaplox solution to the hotel industry works on all major Smartphone platforms. In addition, the system supports all major hotel door locks and hotel systems and can replace or coexist with all current keycard technologies. Over a thousand companies for commercial use have installed the solution since 2011.

The US expansion came at a time the company wanted to penetrate the North America market after a successful launch in Europe. In line with the expansion plan, the company appointed Emma Dupont as North America’s Sales Director in May 2017. That would accelerate the company’s global expansion plan to the American market.

Zaplox’s expansion to the US was implemented at a time when the company’s interest in the mobile key application had grown rapidly. The company believed to have developed and customized its comprehensive platform for the US market. Since the inception of the platform in the US market, it works on a global scale to help hoteliers in implementing a mobile guest journey.

Hoteliers in the US highlights that the Zaplox solution provides vast possibilities to maximize guest satisfaction. The appointment of Emma Dupont guarantees the company broad marketing and sales experience that will increase the company’s net sales.

The company believes that Emma will utilize her skills to drive more business and build more long term relationships with potential and existing customers. During the appointment, Magnus Friberg, CEO at Zaplox mentioned that the company was happy to reinforce the global team with Emma in the key position.

In October 2017, Zaplox reinforced its US presence with the appointment of Chris Clement as vice president sales, North America. The appointment of Chris Clement as Vice President Sales, North America was an additional pillar to foster the implementation of the company’s expansion to the US market. Clement has broad experience in the North American hotel industry. He is anticipated to utilize his knowledge in the field to take Zaplox to the next level. Moreover, he has worked with some of the world’s largest hotel chains and has proven successful provision of hospitality software solutions for his clients.

In recent years, the US hospitality market has grown in size and thus it is important to Zaplox. Over one thousand large and mid-sized hotel chains have popped up in the region. This forms a very huge market base for the company. Now, the company looks forward to expanding its presence in the US and increases the gross annual revenue. With the two recruitments, the company is guaranteed to gain more clients from the target group of large and mid-sized hotel organizations.

Most of the existing and potential clients in the US concur that Zaplox will become a global force in the hospitality industry. The company solutions will change the hospitality market and have a major impact on the overall guest experience. That place Zaplox in a better position in the US market. In the expansion plan, Zaplox aims to provide the most innovative solutions and outstanding service to its customers.

Funding the Expansion

 

In August 2014, Zaplox announced that it had closed a € 3 million funding round. The company said that it would focus on using a large portion of the funds for further expansion into the European and American markets. In addition, some money would be used for hiring more workers to facilitate expansion into the US market. Mainly, the startup raised the money from the German family Mankel, represented through the company 4M Beteiligung. Presently, the startup has now raised almost € 6.6 million. Swedish Industrifonden and LMK ventures are amongst the major investors.

Sources