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Håvar Bauck

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Håvar Bauck
Alma materBI Norwegian Business School
Lycee Francais Rene Cassin d'Oslo
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forCo-founder of HotelOnline, Savanna Sunrise, Nairobi Airport Hotel
Websitehttps://www.bauck.com/

Håvar Bauck is a Norwegian-born entrepreneur, living in Nairobi, Kenya.[1]

Early life and education

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Bauck grew up in Norway and Belgium. After graduating from high school at Lycee Francais Rene Cassin d'Oslo, he attended BI Norwegian Business School, where he completed a Master's degree in 2002.[2]

Business career

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Bauck is one of the two founders of HotelOnline,[3] a Nairobi-based, pan-African travel technology company that he co-founded with Endre Opdal in 2013.[4][3] Before HotelOnline, Bauck was noted for his earlier venture, Nairobi Airport Hotel, the first known short-term apartment rental services in East Africa,[1][2][5][6] and Savanna Sunrise, an early digital marketing service provider in East Africa. He later combined Savanna Sunrise with a Polish competitor to form HotelOnline in a cross-border merger in 2017.[1][5][7]

In 2017, Bauck completed the what is thought to have been the first equity crowdfunding in Sub-Saharan Africa,[2][8][9][6] raising USD 250,000 for HotelOnline.[8][2] In 2019, he facilitated the merger between Kenyan traveltech startup Cloud9XP and tour operator Heartbeat Adventures, and was appointed the chairman of the merged company.[10] In 2020, he merged Cloud9XP with HotelOnline.[11][12]

In 2020 and 2021, Bauck was noted for acquiring several competitors during the COVID-19 pandemic[12][6] and for the acquisition of Kenyan competitor HotelPlus in 2022,[13][14][15] while raising an investment round from Korean travel technology unicorn[16] and Softbank portfolio investee Yanolja in the same year.[13][14][15][17]

Public talks and writing

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He is a public speaker and writer, delivering frequent talks and articles on tourism, investment and entrepreneurship in Africa.[18][19][20][21][22][23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Our guest house business started in Syokimau, now it's thriving across Africa". Nation.Africa. 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  2. ^ a b c d "Introducing Human 11000 – Havar Bauck". Finding Humans in Tech. 2023-04-11. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  3. ^ a b Manoj (2017-12-06). "Founder Havar Bauck, on Building HotelOnline to Become a Hotel Booking Stalwart". Techweez. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  4. ^ "HotelOnline conquers Africa from Kenya- The Exchange". 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  5. ^ a b ROTICH, KEVIN (2022-11-02). "From starting Kenya's first Airbnb to building digital revenue platform for hotels". Capital Business. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  6. ^ a b c Batte, Edgar (2021-10-02). "A partnership opened way for Rutaro". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  7. ^ May, Kevin (February 20, 2017). "HOTELOGA AND SAVANNA SUNRISE MERGE, PLOT TRAVEL TECH DOMINATION IN AFRICA". PhocusWire.
  8. ^ a b Nwanekwu, Lucky (2019-07-17). "Nigerian investors join Shroff for a stake in HotelOnline". Business Day. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  9. ^ "HotelOnline to merge operations with Key Butler, a Norwegian traveltech startup | TechMoran". techmoran.com. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  10. ^ "Kenyan travel startups Cloud9xp and HeartBeat Ventures have merged". Disrupt Africa. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  11. ^ "Norwegian Håvar Bauck behind Cloud9xp merger in Kenya". Ventureburn. 2019-06-13. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  12. ^ a b "Kenyan travel-tech HotelOnline on major onslaught of the African market". 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  13. ^ a b Njanja, Annie (2022-09-12). "Kenya's HotelOnline acquires hospitality software company HotelPlus". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  14. ^ a b Walson, Kathryn (September 12, 2022). "HOTELONLINE ACQUIRES HOTELPLUS TO ACCELERATE EXPANSION ACROSS AFRICA". PhocusWire.
  15. ^ a b O'Neill, Sean; September 12th, Skift; EDT, 2022 at 3:49 pm (2022-09-12). "Kenya's HotelOnline, Backed by Yanolja, Buys Hotel Software Brand HotelPlus". Skift. Retrieved 2024-03-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "South Korean unicorn Yanolja invests big in Kenya traveltech, HotelOnline". The Exchange. 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  17. ^ Horntvedt, Anders (April 1, 2022). "Brings in Softbank company on the owner's side". Finansavisen.
  18. ^ HotelOnline – how we scaled a travel tech startup across Africa, 15 November 2019, retrieved 2024-03-19
  19. ^ "Four Kenyan Entrepreneurs Launch an Initiative for the Entrepreneurship Community in Nairobi". Tech in Africa. 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  20. ^ Bauck, Håvar (2023-08-17). "Why Kenya must act now to revive JKIA's Greenfield Terminal project". The Exchange – Africa's Investment Gateway. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  21. ^ Bauck, Håvar (2023-06-08). "The Impact of Airspace Liberalization on Tourism and Trade in 2023". The Exchange – Africa's Investment Gateway. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  22. ^ Bauck, Håvar (2023-06-26). "Trans-African Highways: a vital tool to ignite tourism and trade". The Exchange – Africa's Investment Gateway. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  23. ^ Bauck, Håvar. "East Africa's travel and hospitality industry in the wake of Covid-19". Economic Times of India. Retrieved 2024-03-19.