Canary Technologies

Canary Technologies develops cloud software for hotels, resorts and other lodging properties, positioning itself as a hospitality management system that moves paper-based hotel workflows online. Its platform spans the guest journey from post-booking through checkout and is organized into several product lines: a Guest Management System (digital arrivals, mobile check-in, tablet registration, self-service kiosk, mobile keys), guest engagement tools (dynamic upsells, guest messaging, digital compendium, food-and-beverage mobile ordering), departure tools (digital tipping, smart checkout), and secure transactions (digital authorizations, payment links, chargeback and fraud reduction).

The company has layered artificial-intelligence products on top of this platform under the Canary AI banner, including AI Voice, AI Guest Messaging, AI Webchat and an AI Agent Studio, and has added a Sales & Catering line with an Agentic Sales Coordinator for hotel group and event sales, digital contracts and deposits/payments. Canary states that its software integrates natively with major hotel property management systems, CRMs and payment providers. Solutions are marketed by use case (revenue growth, operational efficiency, guest experience, fraud reduction, staff retention, sustainability), by staff role (general manager, technology, revenue, operations, sales) and by property type (hotel groups, independent hotels, vacation rentals, franchise hotels).

Founding story

Canary was founded by longtime friends Harman Singh Narula and SJ Sawhney, who combined backgrounds in hospitality and technology on the premise that hoteliers needed simpler, cloud-based tools. Narula, CEO and co-founder, previously worked in the Global Strategy Group at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, as a management consultant at Bain & Company and in principal M&A at Citigroup, and holds degrees from Cornell University and the Wharton School. Sawhney, President and co-founder, previously led product and technology at Stayful, a booking platform for independent and boutique hotels, has founded multiple venture-backed technology companies and is a Columbia University graduate. Company materials date the founding to 2017, while the 2025 Series D press release describes the company as founded in 2018.

Business model

Business-to-business software sold to hotel operators and brands, with sales handled through a direct enterprise motion (contact sales, demo requests) and a published pricing page, plus a customer referral program.

Software-as-a-service for hospitality operators; the product set also includes payment-related modules (digital authorizations, payment links, deposits and payments) and revenue-generating features such as dynamic upsells and digital tipping.

Traction

Company materials state the platform is trusted by more than 20,000 hotels; the count of countries served is given variously as 80+ (June 2024), over 100 (June 2025) and 125+ on the current website. Published customer outcomes cited by the company include an 82% improvement in efficiency, a 4x increase in upsell conversions and a 6% improvement in service scores. Y Combinator lists a team size of 150.

Latest developments

In June 2025 Canary closed an $80 million Series D led by Brighton Park Capital at an approximate $600 million valuation, with participation from Insight Partners, F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y Combinator and Commerce Ventures. More recent announcements include the launch of an Agentic Sales Coordinator for hotel group and event sales, a new two-way integration with Host Hotel Systems, deployments at Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach and GreenStar Hotels, publication of a 2026 Hospitality AI Report, and naming to the 2026 Inc. 5000 list.