Mews wins first e-money licence for a hospitality operating system

Mews Financial Services B.V., the regulated entity established by the hotel software company Mews Systems, has been granted an Electronic Money Institution licence by De Nederlandsche Bank, the company said in a release dated August 11. Mews described the approval as the first e-money licence held by a hospitality operating system in the European Economic Area.

Regulated status lets the Amsterdam-based company run payment services on its own infrastructure and hold hotel funds directly rather than routing them through third-party providers, according to Investing.com, which first reported the approval. Until now, the operational record for hotels using the platform has sat in Mews while the financial record originated in outside systems. The licence also brings risk, fraud monitoring, sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering controls directly into the operating system, and requires customer funds to be safeguarded entirely separately from the company’s own accounts.

“This license gives us the foundation to go further,” founder Richard Valtr said, according to Crowdfund Insider, describing the aim as building financial infrastructure that works around how a hotel runs.

Rollout begins in a controlled way from late 2026, starting with a pilot group of properties in the Netherlands before expanding progressively across the EEA. Mews serves 15,000 customers in 85 countries and processed $19.7 billion in hotel transaction value in 2025, according to the company.

Mews was last valued at $2.5 billion after raising $300 million in a Series D round in January led by EQT Growth, with participation from Atomico, HarbourVest, Kinnevik, Battery Ventures and Tiger Global. The regulated entity operates under licence number RD202009.