Raising about €12.6 million, Malmo-based Minut is on a mission to make guests good neighbours with an innovative rental monitoring solution. The funding was led led by Almaz Capital with participation from Zenith, Kompas, Verve Ventures, Swiss Immo Lab.
While the vacation and business rental industry has boomed over the past decade, so has a growing set of complaints – namely around noise, overcrowding and damage that has affected local communities and hosts. Standard home-monitoring solutions using cameras are, within reason, not acceptable in guest properties due to privacy concerns. Until now, the problem has been growing without a solution.
Enter Minut.
Founded in 2014, Minut has developed a sensor that monitors noise, occupancy, motion and temperature in vacation rental properties. The company sees itself in the role of a co-host, supporting hosts in preventing parties, enhancing guest experience and protecting their homes.
Nils Mattisson, co-founder and CEO of Minut, explained: “The rise of flexible working revolutionised the way we live and travel, fuelling demand for short-term rentals. Combining work and leisure is the future of travel, and we’re convinced all of the hospitality market will follow suit. Minut offers unique technology that provides hosts and managers with priceless insight from inside the accommodation, without sacrificing guest privacy. Our data goes beyond noise and it’s something the whole industry can benefit from. We’re proud to support sustainable growth of STR and we’ll continue doing so. At the same time, you can expect to see Minut sensors in a wider array of accommodations in the future.”
Minut has pioneered and patented its approach of sound analysis on the edge of the network. Thanks to machine learning and AI, with on-device computing capabilities, the Minut sensor can analyse the sound volume and events without streaming audio recordings to the cloud. This way, it provides accurate and timely data while respecting the privacy of guests.
In a study across multiple European and US cities, Minut was shown to reduce neighbourhood complaints by as much as 90%. The startup also has established partnerships with multiple players in the rental industry, including Airbnb and Kasa Living who now recommends the solution to hosts.
The pioneering tech is proving popular. Minut reports a 400% YoY growth now for several years and has tens of thousands of devices in operation in over 100 countries and offices in the US, UK, Sweden, France and Spain. The company keeps expanding and innovating and has just launched a security dispatch service in the UK, as well as adding new integrations with various property management solutions.
This new funding will continue to fuel this rapid growth and global expansion.
Sebastian Peck, Partner at KOMPAS added: “Minut has built a really compelling platform for owners of short-term rentals that protects guest privacy whilst allowing them to be good neighbours, prevent noise and comply with city ordinances. Minut’s platform also supports managers of larger property portfolios with workflow automation, making them more efficient when managing their properties remotely. The short-term rental market has proven to be remarkably resilient during the pandemic, and is poised for continuous growth. Minut’s brilliant team led by CEO Nils Mattison is extremely well positioned to capture this opportunity and create a category leader.”
