Proxce a TSI portfolio company announced a major deal this week to power 98 Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resorts with the Proxce mobile identity management software solution.
Proxce’s mobile based real-world identity management software solution is an advance technology facilitating seamless mobile check-ins to hotels, keyless access to rooms and precise location based services.
Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resorts mobile app, powered by Proxce, will focus on improving the overall guest experience at every stage of the journey from planning, booking and pre-arrival to experiencing, sharing and loyalty.
Join the Travel Startups Deal Flow Platform where we match corporate travel companies and investors with travel tech startups.
Travel Startups Incubator recently screened 100+ startups for the Mekong Innovative Startup Tourism (MIST) bootcamp, using our proprietary investment weighted methodology and MIST’s criteria of potential for investment. 18 tourism startups from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were chosen to participate in the upcoming startup accelerator from May 5-7th in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Four of the startups will win innovation grants of $7,000 to $10,000.
Matt Zito, Managing Partner of Travel Startups Incubator, said, “the Mekong region startup scene is growing quickly, travel and tourism businesses will ultimately drive the economy helping create jobs and alleviating poverty in the region.” A few of the companies TSI really liked included I Love Asia, Bayo, Dichung, Mimosa and Chameleon City.
The 18 startups selected included:
- I Love Asia: Offers women-led motorbike tours of Hoi An and Hue while supporting projects for disadvantaged communities.
- Bayo: Providing travelers with the right travel information, suppliers, products and prices to transact with local suppliers easily.
- Dichung: Promotes low-impact ride-share transportation options, giving drivers the chance to trade free seats in their vehicles.
- Mimoza: Creates 3D virtual tours of top travel destinations.
- Chameleon City: On-demand chat-based service providing travel and lifestyle answers from local experts, 24/7.
- Bus5: Connects travelers and bus operators in real time, helping bus companies fill their seats.
- CamboTicket: Aggregates bus, ferry and private taxi bookings around Cambodia and Laos into one platform.
- GuideInsider: A comprehensive in-country guidance on local sights and activities.
- Manoa: Connects tour providers on an integrated document manager, text messenger, rating system and digital invoicing platform.
- Artisan Origins by TAEC: Offers authentic, high quality crafts from rural ethinic communities in Laos.
- Ma Te Sai: Preserves cultural heritage, while developing skills and offering employment options for youth in Nambak.
- Passa Paa: A design and print studio in Luang Prabang.
- Hue Free Walking Tour: Operates the first and only walking tour of Hue. Offers add-on historical tours.
- Innaway: Serves as a mediator between hotels and travelers, helping hotels maximize revenue and improve quality standards.
- Morning Rooms: Vietnam’s largest budget hotel network.
- Oneclicktogo: An all-in-one trip planning website offering flight and hotel booking, guide book recommendations and a review platform.
- Tugo: A technology-based tour operator and travel community.
- Putaleng Legend: Offers diverse ecotourism experiences, adventure trekking tours and authentic ethnic cultural tours.
Splitty won the Start-up Award at the EFT San Francisco Summit on Monday April 24th. The OTA splits your stay into multiple reservations for the same hotel to get you the lowest rate. Packetzoom a new technology protocol, speeding the load of a mobile application came in 2nd place. Both startups have been funded with millions in capital.
The EFT San Francisco Summit Startup Village kicked off on Monday April 24th. There were two panel sessions followed by 12 travel tech startups pitching for the awards. For the 3rd year in a row, EFT invited Travel Startups Incubator to be the moderator for the Startup Village and award sessions.
Panel #1: “Meet the Entrepreneurs,” succeeding in travel tech. We heard stories and great insights from Andy Peck, Founder and CEO Trusted Housesitters, Daria Rebenok, Founder and CEO Grabr.io, Snehal Shinde, CTO and Co-founder Mezi, Christian Wolters, North American MD Tour Radar, Bruce Rosenberg, COO HotelPlanner.
Panel #2: “Meet the Investors and Judges” for the Startup Pitch competition. Judges included Brian Harniman, Managing Director Brand New Matter, Tim Gunstone, Managing Director EyeforTravel, Bruce Rosenberg, Chief Operating Officer HotelPlanner, Jeena James, Global Head for Travel & Local, Apps, Business Development Google Play, Nancy Hayes, Managing Director Golden Seeds, Seth Rosenfield, Managing Director Petsky Prunier, Kurien Jacob, Principal, Highgate Ventures Highgate Hotels, llana Golan, CEO Golan Ventures, Amir Amidi, Managing Partner Plug and Play, George Arabian, Co-founder Steelhead Ventures, Nathan Bobbin, Sr. Director, Product Innovation Travelport, Utpal Kaul, Head New Products Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Matt Zito, Managing Partner Travel Startups Incubator.
A few takeaways from the conference included:
- There is now more investment capital, pre-seed stage, $25K-$100K in the startup ecosystem than ever before due to the corporate travel companies entering the market with new incubators, accelerators and venture arms.
- When raising capital at the Series A stage you should be asking for more than you really need.
- Building a B2B travel tech startup is much easier to gain traction and less competitive than B2C.
- Google is now the largest travel company in the world doing $12B in revenue in travel more than Priceline, Expedia and TripAdvisor.
We have two new corporate partners on the TravelStartups.NET Deal Flow Platform looking for specific travel technology. If you have the following technologies please apply to the Deal Flow Platform so we can introduce you.
Airlines
Travel technology looking for: Data/Analytics for airlines to improve ancillary sales.
- How can an airline better steer its (ancillary) sales and improve upon it using analytics. Ancillaries (non-ticket revenue), these would be seat upgrades, baggage fees, on-board food, on-board services, à la carte features, commission-based products, frequent flier activities, pay-per-view entertainment, on-board shopping, internet gaming, car hire, hotel bookings.
Travel Agency’s
Travel technologies looking for: Multiple technologies for Travel Agency’s, Travel Agents.
CRM’s for Travel.
- Platforms that manage travel agency’s customers’ data to run campaigns, automate workflows.
Social Media Management specifically for Travel.
Booking tools.
- Focused on the travel advisor work flow.
Travel advisor sharing platform.
- Ways for inter-advisor and supplier collaboration to occur.
Group Travel Planning.
- Itinerary management and collaboration for group travel.
Trip Inspiration.
- Platforms or tools that are meant to give travelers trip suggestions based on customer preferences.
Does your travel company have what it takes to succeed in travel? Is your app or product a key weapon in your battle to win and engage travel consumers? New travel brands will find out as they battle it out as part of EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Travel awards taking place in San Francisco, April 24th – 25 as part of EyeforTravel’s San Francisco Summit.
Research showed us Travel Startups attracted billions of dollars in funding last year, and the travel booking sector attracted some of the most investment — more than $650 million.
“Start-ups represent a fundamental shift in innovation in travel. At EyeforTravel we believe that the brands investing and innovating in mobile and new offerings deserve to be recognized”, says Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel Ltd.
As Charles Ralston from TripStreak said on the previous EyeforTravel Awards “The Start-up Village is a really great value for money, especially for start-ups that can’t typically afford to spend thousands on conference. Bravo to EyeforTravel for pioneering this!”
Travel is being changed by mobile, the sharing economy social media and that constant drive to deliver the best customer experience. Technology is transforming the way travel is sold – providing exciting opportunities to enhance the customer experience, grow loyalty and ancillary revenues.
EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Awards seek to recognize the young brands who are making significant progress for travel – trailblazing the way for others to follow.
With new apps, services and devices hitting the travel market and extra capabilities coming to devices, travel brands cannot sit still and must continue to innovate. EyeforTravel are offering new brands a stage to shout about it!
Previous finalists include FLYR, Seatwizer, FlitWays, Stiya, Biz Airlines, spacebase, tripstr, Grabr, wellobox and more!
The Start-up awards is a day-long event
- Starting with learning sessions – quizzing travel entrepreneurs on their secrets of success
- Meet the investors – and see what they look for in a travel start-up
- Start-up Pitches for the companies that are shortlisted
- Finalists and Winners announced
To get involved and see if you make the cut you can register today to pitch or just attend the day – learn more here. All entries must be received by February 28th. Find out how to enter your brand and for full terms and conditions
For all awards inquires contact: –
Shreya Ganapathy
Project and Content Director | Eyefortravel
W: +44 20 7375 7150
shreya@eyefortravel.com
