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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Lighthouse | |
|---|---|
| Formerly | OTA Insight |
| Type | Private company |
| Industry | Travel technology, Hospitality technology |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founders | Gino Engels, Matthias Geeroms |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Products | Commercial intelligence platform for hotels |
Number of employees | 700+ |
| Website | mylighthouse |
Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is a British commercial intelligence platform for the travel and hospitality industry, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 2012 in Ghent, Belgium by Gino Engels and Matthias Geeroms, the company provides AI-powered pricing, business intelligence and revenue management tools for hotels and short-term rental operators. As of 2024 the platform is used by over 70,000 hospitality providers across 185 countries, including major chains such as Holiday Inn, Radisson and NH Hotel Group.[1] In November 2024 the company achieved unicorn status following a $370 million Series C investment led by KKR.[2]
Lighthouse was founded in 2012 in Ghent, Belgium, as OTA Insight, by Gino Engels and Matthias Geeroms with the aim of solving one of the hospitality industry's persistent challenges: managing bookings, pricing and revenue efficiently. The idea originated during a trip to the London Olympics. The company later relocated its headquarters to London.[3][4]
In November 2021 the company raised an $80 million Series B round led by Spectrum Equity, with participation from existing investors Eight Roads, F-Prime Capital and Highgate Technology Ventures, bringing total funding to $100 million at the time.[5]
Following the Series B, OTA Insight pursued an acquisition strategy to expand its product portfolio. In March 2022, it acquired Madrid-based vacation rental market intelligence company Transparent. One month later, in April 2022, it acquired Dallas-based hotel revenue intelligence platform Kriya RevGen, whose Spider Analytics product streamlined data collection and reporting across hotel portfolios.[5][6]
In February 2024, Lighthouse acquired Belgium-based Stardekk, a provider of hospitality channel management and distribution software founded in 2001 with over 3,000 customers in 55 countries. The acquisition was the company's third since the 2021 Series B and brought an all-in-one hotel software for managing reservations.[7][8]
In 2023 the company rebranded from OTA Insight to Lighthouse, consolidating multiple acquired brands and products under a single unified commercial platform. The new name was chosen to symbolise the company's role in guiding hospitality operators through complex data.[9][10]
In November 2024 Lighthouse closed a $370 million Series C round led by KKR through its Next Generation Technology III Fund, with participation from existing investors Spectrum Equity, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Ventures and Highgate Technology Ventures. The round valued the company at over $1 billion, making Lighthouse a unicorn and Europe's twelfth unicorn of 2024. At $370 million, the round was one of the largest for a startup headquartered in London and among the biggest in the travel sector that year. Total funding raised stands at approximately $470 million.[1][2][10][11][12]
Stephen Shanley, KKR's Head of Tech Growth in Europe, described Lighthouse as "the leading platform in this space" with strong customer loyalty and a proven ability to deliver value across market segments.[3]
Lighthouse processes over 400 terabytes of travel and market data daily and uses AI to deliver real-time insights to hospitality operators.[13][14][15]
In 2024 the platform extended its coverage to short-term rentals alongside traditional hotels, drawing on data from over 19 million short-term rental properties globally.[1]
Lighthouse has won the HotelTechAwards for five consecutive years (2021–2025), taking top honours in categories including rate shopping, market intelligence and business intelligence. The awards are determined annually based on customer feedback from over 2.5 million hotel industry professionals on HotelTechReport.com.[16][17]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is a British commercial intelligence platform for the travel and hospitality industry, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 2012 in Ghent, Belgium by Gino Engels and Matthias Geeroms, the company provides AI-powered pricing, business intelligence and revenue management tools for hotels and short-term rental operators. As of 2024 the platform is used by over 70,000 hospitality providers across 185 countries, including major chains such as Holiday Inn, Radisson and NH Hotel Group. In November 2024 the company achieved unicorn status following a $370 million Series C investment led by KKR.
Intelligence assessment is a specific phase of the intelligence cycle which oversees the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on wide ranges of available overt and covert intelligence (also known as "intel"). There are two types of assessment; In the beginning of the intelligence cycle, during the direction phase (also known as tasking or planning), intelligence officers assess past intelligence, identify gaps in information, and determine what new intelligence is needed. Intelligence assessment also occurs toward the end of the intelligence cycle, during the analysis & production phase. This phase comes after collection and processing but before dissemination to policymakers. Assessments develop in response to leadership declaration requirements to inform decision-making. Assessment may be executed on behalf of a state, military or commercial organisation with ranges of information sources available to each. An intelligence assessment reviews available information and previous assessments for relevance and currency. Where there requires additional information, the analyst may direct some collection.
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret, confidential, or in some way valuable information. Such information is also referred to as intelligence. A professional trained in conducting intelligence operations by their government may be employed as an intelligence officer. Espionage may be conducted in a foreign country, domestically or remotely. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others, it may be illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. The term is frequently associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies for military purposes. However, there are many types of espionage. Industrial espionage, for example, involves spying on civilians and their respective business or corporate interests. One way spies gather data and information about a targeted military organization is by infiltrating its ranks. They can then return information such as the size and strength of the enemy forces. They can also find collaborators and dissidents within the organization and influence them to provide further information or defect. Spies can steal technology and sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterespionage, also known as counterintelligence or offensive counterintelligence, is the practice of thwarting enemy espionage and intelligence gathering. Almost all sovereign states have laws concerning espionage and the penalties for being caught spying are often severe.
In intelligence, assets are persons within organizations or countries being spied upon who provide information for an outside spy. They are sometimes referred to as agents, and in law enforcement parlance, as confidential informants, or "CIs" for short. There are different categories of assets, including people who: Willingly work for a foreign government for ideological reasons such as being against their own government, but live in a country that doesn't allow political opposition. They may elect to work with a foreign power to change their own country because there are few other ways available. Work in intergovernmental relations for a different part of their government but relay information to their country's intelligence agency. They often obtain useful information in the course of their other work and are sometimes tasked with seeking it out. Work for monetary gain. Intelligence services often pay good wages to people in important positions that are willing to betray secrets. Have been blackmailed and are forced into their role. Do not even know they are being used (so called "useful idiots"). Assets can be loyal to their country, but may still provide a foreign agent with information through failures in information safety, such as using insecure computers or not following proper OPSEC procedures during day-to-day chatting.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
