London hotel ranking startup Top10 raised $12 million in funding - but now it's shutting down

Top10, the London startup that showed travelers the 10 best hotels in any given city, has shut down.

CEO Tom Leathes confirmed to Business Insider that the company had shut down, and staff had departed.

The company's app had a clever concept: It would show 10 good hotels in any given location, as well as cheap prices for bookings. Larger listing sites like Expedia have hundreds of hotels on their books, but that can be overwhelming.

However, Leathes said that it was an extremely competitive space. Top10 reached a point where growth slowed and it needed to build a global brand in order to have any chance of competing with established players.

Top10 raised funding from some respected names. Since its launch in 2011, it brought in $12.4 million (£8.2 million) in funding from venture capital funds including Balderton Capital and Accel Partners.

The company's app also received praise from Apple. It was listed as an "Editor's Choice" app in 127 countries, and was also chosen as the "best new app."

Staff left Top10 in November and the company's founders are now winding up the business and its assets.

But that may not be the end of the road for the founding team. Leathes said he's worked with his cofounders on other companies in the past and said it's likely that they will remain together on future projects.