Bolzano, May 5th 2026 – South Tyrolean startup profitize has closed a seed funding round of €1,4 million. Investors include Alpine Fund (Redstone & Euregio⁺), the Austrian aws Gründungsfonds, and several business angels from the hospitality industry. The AI-powered financial platform is already used by around 150 hotels and food & beverage businesses across Europe – just one year after going live. The capital will be used to expand the technology and enter new European markets.
Revenue climbs, profit shrinks – and most hotels notice too late
The economic environment for hotels has become harder. Labour costs are rising, energy prices remain elevated, and room for further rate increases is narrowing. At the same time, many properties operate with fragmented financial data: occupancy figures in the PMS, costs at the tax adviser, staff data in the scheduling tool, energy consumption with the utility provider. A complete picture – if it exists at all – only emerges weeks later.
profitize consolidates this data automatically in a single platform and makes it actionable in real time: with forecasts, budget planning, cashflow analyses, and AI-driven recommendations.
A second founding after a successful exit
Behind profitize stand Co-Founder Michael Gorfer, Chief Technology Officer Mark Nardi, and Simon Falkensteiner, who founded the revenue management system RateBoard in 2015 and sold it to the Italian Zucchetti Group in 2020. Having grown up in a hotelier family, he knows the operational and financial challenges of the industry first-hand.
“The hospitality industry works with enormous volumes of data but often without the means to turn that data into informed decisions,” says Falkensteiner. “With RateBoard, we optimised the revenue side. With profitize, we’re now tackling costs – because in the end, what matters is what’s left at the bottom of the P&L.”
150 properties in one year
Since going live, around 150 hotels and food & beverage businesses across several European countries have adopted the platform – from owner-managed independent hotels to multi-property groups. Use cases range from budgeting and forecasting through cashflow management to labour productivity analysis.
A 40-room leisure hotel in South Tyrol reduced its labour costs by 10 per cent through the platform – with no reduction in service quality. The lever was not headcount reduction but more precise scheduling based on occupancy forecasts.
Investors with different perspectives
The round is led by Alpine Fund (Redstone & Euregio⁺) and the Austrian aws Gründungsfonds. Several business angels with hospitality backgrounds are also participating. The combination of European venture capital, a public early-stage fund, and experienced industry practitioners reflects the breadth of the market profitize is addressing.
“We have been watching profitize for some time and are glad to be on board now. The team is strongly networked in the hospitality sector and knows the genuine pain points of its customers. Together we will internationalise and strengthen the model on the AI side.”
– Ben Scheidt, Partner, Redstone
“The solution addresses a clear need in the hotel industry, and the traction to date shows that the approach works in the market. The strong industry expertise of the founding team – which we were already able to verify during the shared RateBoard years – combined with their technical know-how convinced us and confirms that the team is on the right path.”
– Lukas Punzet, Investment Manager, aws Gründungsfonds
How the capital will be used
The funding will go into three areas: the technological development of the platform (including anonymised industry benchmarking and expanded productivity analytics), continued expansion into Italy, Austria, and new European markets, and the growth of the technology and customer success teams.
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About profitize
profitize is an AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform for the hospitality industry. The platform integrates financial data from PMS, POS, accounting, HR, banking, and energy providers into a single interface. With real-time analytics, forecasts, automated reports, and AI-based recommendations, it supports hotels, hotel groups, and food & beverage businesses in managing their financial performance with precision. The company was founded in South Tyrol in 2024 by Simon Falkensteiner (previously founder of RateBoard, exit to Zucchetti) and Michael Gorfer.
About Alpine Fund (Redstone & Euregio⁺)
Alpine Fund is a joint growth vehicle of Redstone and Euregio⁺, investing in leading technology and industrial companies in the Alpine region. Its aim is to strengthen the innovation capacity linking Munich, Zurich, Vienna, and Bolzano through capital, network, and data-driven expertise. Redstone manages over €600 million across more than ten specialised venture funds in Europe. Euregio⁺ is a leading investment manager from South Tyrol with approximately €700 million in assets under management.
About aws Gründungsfonds
aws Gründungsfonds is an Austrian venture capital investor with a fund volume of approximately EUR 140 million. As an investor, aws Gründungsfonds accompanies startups from their first growth phase through subsequent financing rounds (Series A/B) through to exit. It sees itself as a long-term, stable partner with a hands-on approach, acting as an active sparring partner for founding teams. Since 2013, more than EUR 600 million has been invested in over 45 startups in cooperation with national and international co-investors, and numerous exits have been realised.