Overview
Founded in Ghent in 2012 by Gino Engels, Lighthouse began as OTA Insight and built one of the hospitality industry's most widely used revenue intelligence platforms. The product aggregates market data, competitor pricing, booking pace, and demand signals to help hotel revenue managers make better pricing and distribution decisions. Over time the company expanded from rate benchmarking into a broader business intelligence suite covering market forecasting and commercial strategy.
In November 2024, Lighthouse raised $370M in a Series C led by KKR, pushing its valuation to $2.4B and cementing its status as Belgium's 5th Unicorn. The company has relocated its headquarters to London but retains approximately 270 of its 700+ employees in Belgium, keeping a significant operational and engineering footprint in its home country.
The company's trajectory from a Ghent-founded startup to a multi-billion dollar global SaaS platform is one of the stronger examples in Belgian tech of a vertical AI product scaling to global market leadership.
Media & appearances
- Ben's MentorsYouTubeWaarom de Meeste Start-Ups Falen en hoe jij Kan Groeien!Belgian unicorn whose co-founders originally moved to London due to the lack of a Belgian ecosystem.
- VirtualYouTubeVirtual #26 - Travel hacks van een insider: slim en betaalbaar op vakantieGhent-based Belgian unicorn (valued over $1B) in hotel revenue management, founded after the founders noticed empty London hotels during the 2012 Olympics due to mispricing. Ghent-based unicorn (founded by Matthias Geeroms and team) that built revenue management algorithms for hoteliers after noticing half-empty London hotels during the 2012 Olympics. Additional recording: Virtual.
- WintercircusYouTube'The ODOO Story' Interview with Fabian Pinckaers and Louis JonckheereMentioned via a De Tijd interview with founder Mathias Heurmans that sparked ecosystem debate about Pinckaers' stance against stock options.
- SuperNovaYouTubeSuperHero Conversations EP6 | Pieterjan Bouten - Entourage & Stan Callewaert - SquireCompany where Squire's co-founder and CTO Ines was lead developer before joining Squire.
Stated facts & numbers
- Lighthouse in Ghent is a Belgian unicorn valued at over $1 billion, specialized in hotel revenue management; it was founded after Matthias Geeroms and co-founders noticed empty London hotels during the 2012 Olympics.Virtual 2025-07-020:27:05
- Lighthouse (Ghent) is a Belgian unicorn valued at over a billion, born from observing half-empty London hotels during the 2012 Olympics.Virtual 2025-07-020:27:27
Funding & milestones
3 events found for Lighthouse · 2017–2024
GrowthVenture / equity1 source$20M
Reported amount $20,000,000
Lighthouse, then named OTA Insight, announced $20m growth round led by Eight Roads.
InvestorsEight Roads VenturesF-Prime Capital PartnersSeries BVenture / equity1 source$80M
Reported amount $80,000,000
Lighthouse, then named OTA Insight, announced $80m Series B from Spectrum Equity.
InvestorsSpectrum EquitySeries CVenture / equity1 source$370M
Reported amount $370,000,000
Approximately $370m growth investment led by KKR.
InvestorsKKR
Recorded history so far. Original currencies are preserved; amounts in different currencies are not added together. Debt, grants, acquisitions and listings are separate event types. Undated events appear last.
Profile narrative
- Series C, $370M, Nov 2024: KKR (lead). Valuation: $2.4B
Leadership & org chart
In the news
- Long time the making. Now a reality ✨ After years of development, a new mandatory innovation course for all medicine students officially launched yesterday at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH, Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen. A huge congratulations to Trine Winterø, Mette M Rosenkilde, Lærke Smidt Gasbjerg, Louise Møller Jørgensen and everyone else involved in bringing this vision to life. Turning an ambitious idea into a compulsory part of the medical curriculum is no small achievement. The course
- 100 invention disclosures... and the year isn't over yet. For the first time in its history, the Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen has reached 100 invention disclosures (IDFs) in a single year. What makes this milestone even more remarkable is that it has been achieved with two months still remaining in the year. The previous record was 88 invention disclosures in 2016. Crossing the 100 mark not only establishes a new all-time high but also reflects a significant increase in the pace at which UCPH researchers are
- Roman travellers were already visiting the Pyramids as tourists, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria was guiding their ships. Two thousand years later, Milan can finally see them side by side. 🏛️ The 7 Wonders of the World, our original experience powered by Fever , is now open in Milan at Spazio Ventura, the same space that welcomed Monet earlier this year, and the city becomes the second in the world to host it after London. Inside, immersive rooms and interactive points recreate the wonders of the ancient and modern world, with
- 𝗪𝗲𝗺 𝗴𝗲𝗵𝗼̈𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗲𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲? Niemandem. Aber er entscheidet sich für einen Anbieter. Eine spannende Diskussion gestern an der Vertriebsleitertagung Energie des LHI Lighthouse Institute AG. Kunden haben im Energiebereich haben immer mehr Stakeholder mit denen sie sich auseinander setzen müssen - vom Installateur für Anlagen, zum Versorger, Netzbetreiber, ....bis hin zum Aggregator. Jeder hat ein Angebot, jeder möchte Zugriff. Und das bedeutet zunehmende Komplexität für den Kunden. Da ist es nicht
- Protect Your Idea Without Overcomplicating It 💡 Many founders worry about protecting their idea. Some wait too long. Others spend time and money protecting the wrong thing. This MasterClass at KU Lighthouse provides a practical introduction to intellectual property and how to think strategically about protecting the value you are creating. Participants will gain: ✅ An understanding of the fundamentals of intellectual property and why it matters ✅ Clarity on the differences between patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights and trade
- The last booth of 2026 is back in its box and the people who prepared and packed it deserve a proper thank you. Conferences and webinars look easy from the outside. What you don't see are the decks rewritten after midnight and the visuals redone again and again, the campaigns, the outreach, the follow ups. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Dragan, Ninoslava, Jelica, Nikola, Katarina, Sara and Aleksandra, our marketing team, ran more activities this year than we ever did before. And oh boy, did they deliver! Thank you also to the many other EyeSee folks
- Turning great ideas into impact starts with the right support. A Proof of Concept (PoC) can be the crucial step that transforms promising research into real-world solutions. By helping researchers test, validate, and mature their innovations, PoC funding bridges the gap between groundbreaking discoveries and societal impact. We're excited to announce that our PoC fund is now larger than ever. DKK 15 million was allocated in 2026 and the same amount secured annually for the next two years (2027 and 2028), we can support
- Frontier quantum hardware needs equally sophisticated control software ✨ Building quantum processors is an extraordinary scientific and engineering challenge. Making full use of this hardware requires equally advanced tools to understand and control its behavior. As quantum processors become more capable, the demands on the software used to operate them grow alongside them. Pelagic Systems, a new spinout from the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and the NNF Quantum Computing Programme (NQCP), has developed a
Open roles (7)
- Business Development Manager - JapanRemote · Oct 29, 2026
- Senior Data EngineerGhent, Belgium · Oct 26, 2026
- Senior AI Solutions Engineer for MarketingGhent, Belgium · Oct 2, 2026
- Backend Engineer – Data AcquisitionGhent, Belgium · Sep 29, 2026
- Manager, Data EngineeringGhent, Belgium · Sep 9, 2026
- Senior AI Solutions Engineer for Revenue & Go-To-MarketGhent, Belgium · May 28, 2026
- Join our talent community!Open · Oct 24, 2023
Alumni 3 went on to found or lead
Adriaan CoppensCo-founder & CEO→Co-founder & CEO at Qargo TMS- PBart VerstryngeSoftware Engineer→Founder & CEO at Breed Bio
Bram BillietSenior UX / UI Designer→Co-Founder - CPO at Usewhale.io
Anton Van AvermaetSenior Director of Engineering→Director Integrations at Qargo TMS
Gino EngelsCo-founder and Chief Customer Officer
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