Astound Ventures launches to drive ‘margin inside the box’

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (July 2026). The father-and-son team of Burt and Alex Cabañas know from their collective 60 years in the hospitality business that the only way to better drive bottom-line profitability in today’s inflationary business environment is to find more “margin inside the box,” through both hotel experience and efficiency innovation.

In May 2025, in the midst of a family discussion, the idea of venture investing in our own industry where we can drive meaningful influence came up, and then after conversations with more than 250 industry collaborators, the Cabañases prioritized raising a fund for venture investing in companies that drive tangible value to the bottom line by reinventing real estate operations and workflows. To that end, they created Astound Ventures, a unique “collaborative investment fund” with owners, operators and brands targeting an initial goal of raising $30 million.

Burt Cabañas, founder and chairman of global hospitality company Benchmark, is Astound Chairman. CEO is Alex Cabañas, who is also executive chairman of hotel management company Pyramid Global Hospitality and a board member of meetings and events-focused Convene Hospitality Group. Another Founding Partner is CFO Kirk Jones, who has a background in hospitality finance, investment analysis and enterprise strategy, which complements the Cabañases’ operating expertise. Together they combine decades of executive leadership to identify technologies capable of delivering measurable financial returns for owners while accelerating adoption through Astound’s extensive industry network.

“Risk aversion, misaligned interest, lack of investment and slow adoption gets in our way. We must adapt faster,” said Alex Cabañas. “We must accelerate testing, adoption and scaling of innovation through more direct investment in the solutions. The hospitality industry shouldn’t wait for Silicon Valley to solve hospitality’s problems. The people closest to those problems should be the ones building and investing in the solutions.”

Astound has already invested in 10 companies with a goal to invest in up to 20 companies over a three-year investment period, while also creating a network of industry leaders to influence the creation of solutions that drive value beyond the fund. “Our entire fund will be smart money, industry investors, not institutional allocations,” Cabañas said. “This is our industry’s opportunity to align, invest in and solve for our own industry problems that degrade value. We are searching for work horses, not unicorns.”

To date, Astound has engaged with more than 80 solution providers and has raised more than $8 million for the fund. Cabañas said the venture will work to get in front of the tectonic shift in revenue, operations and distribution created by artificial intelligence.

Initial investments have been made in sustainable tissue solutions, heated outdoor furniture, purpose-built mobile point-of-sale technology, a wireless open-source energy management solution, technology enabling autonomous travel and multiple travel management and meetings-related solutions, among others.

“Astound Ventures fast-tracked our credibility,” said Ludovic Siouffi, co-founder and CEO of sustainable tissue solution Fox Fold Products Inc. “Their influence put us face to face with CEOs and owners of top hotel management companies, saving us years of cold outreach and credibility building. Total game changer.”

Kevin Long, founder and CEO of Outmore Living, a heated-seat technology solution for outdoor living, said Astound Ventures has delivered more than capital. “Their deep roots in hospitality have translated directly into qualified leads, strategic relationships and faster deal velocity,” he said. “They operate like true partners by leaning in, making introductions and helping us turn opportunities into long-term customers.”

To further the mission of Astound Ventures, the Cabañases also created Astound Collaborators, a global network of real estate leaders and operators with significant influence and a desire to push the status quo in real estate operations. The list is literally a who’s who of hoteliers developed by the Cabañases.

The gathering of collaborators started over a year ago, one phone call after another sharing the idea of Astound. The network expanded organically and via references and relationships. The more people the Cabañases and partners spoke to about Astound, the more people wanted to be a part of the community. Every week, Astound adds new collaborators as its message and mission are shared.

Astound Collaborators includes leaders from not only hotel owners, brands and management companies but also key hotel industry partners and other adjacent real estate classes. The Cabañases’ affiliated partners at Gencom Group, Pyramid Global Hospitality and Convene Hospitality Group are also very engaged.

“We raise influence first, leading with industry credibility and trust,” Alex Cabañas said. “Together, we are focused on the unlock of real estate value constrained by structural, cultural and technological barriers. Our involvement drives sales leads, de-risks execution and promotes product development and market feedback. It provides a ‘cheat code’ in terms of access. Too many pilots without owners at the ground level never scale. Our approach will have fewer wasted pilots.”