Travel Startups Incubator is pleased to announce our 1st investment in Proxce a Silicon Valley startup led by entrepreneur and engineer Madhu Madhusudhanan. Matt Zito, Managing Partner at Travel Startups Incubator says, “we are very excited to be making our first investment in Proxce and their PiM technology. The hospitality industry is a great vertical to enter and deploy PiM.”
We hate lines as much as you do, that’s why our team created Proximity Identity Manager (PiM). Working with hospitality partners we are creating a secure and seamless hotel check-in experience. The moment you set foot in the hotel lobby our system will detect your presence and assign you a room number – all without you raising a finger. You can then pick up your room keys from the guest services or walk up to your room directly and open the door with your smartphone. In addition to mobile check-ins we are working on guest foot traffic analytics for hotels as well.
Proximity Identity Management (PiM), is a revolutionary new way to identify people in the real world. PIM uses BLE/iBeacons and geo-fence to provide auto check-in and auto door unlock services to hospitality industry.
Hotel Partners Wanted: Proxce is looking for 3 hotels to join their pilot program.
Contacts:
Madhu M. madhu.m@proxce.com
+1-408-480-8785
http://www.proxce.com
Twelve travel startups pitched on September 11th at the Eye For Travel Innovation and Startup Awards in New York City. Managing Partner Nicole Zito and I got to meet all the startups pitching. I was one of the 4 judges. Below are some pics of the event. We will have some great video interviews coming over the next 2 months with 4 of the startups so be on the lookout.
The four travel startup finalists were, TRIPTEASE, WALK SOURCE, VE-GO and XTOURMAKER. The two finalists were VE-GO and WALK SOURCE with VE-GO winning the award.
What I learned during the conference that can help you and your travel startup.
The key to building a successful company is to find a problem (pain) in a large market and provide a solution or create a product or service that a large market desires and wants. The former tend to be B2B products and the later B2C products.
I voted for WalkSource but had a feeling VE-GO would win because their pitch was more polished and their product played to the crowd as we were hearing, mobile, mobile, mobile throughout the conference. The 4 judges determined the final 4 and the conference attendees voted to determine the final 2 and the winner.
WalkSource solves a very, very painful problem for hotels. Have you ever been bumped on a flight? Your “bumped” because the flight only has 150 seats and 155 people show up with a ticket. Your “walked” because you check into your hotel very late at night and the hotel has sold all the rooms. Can you imagine the front desk atmosphere? WalkSource helps the front desk hotel clerk book a local room nearby at another hotel in real-time. WalkSource says that 2%-7% of all reservations are walked. This is a huge market that existed for years that no one saw how to solve with technology until WalkSource provided an automated real-time solution for hotels.
VE-GO provides a product that traveler’s desire. Skip the line at the front desk, auto-check-in and go straight to your hotel room and open the door with your smartphone. VE-GO has 112 rooms at 1 hotel in South Beach, Florida that is using their system with 3 more hotels coming online soon.
XTourmaker. I really like these guys, scrappy fighters building a nice travel business in Portugal and looking to expand globally. XTourmaker helps small to mid size hotels launch their own mobile app. These guys are going to make it.
Roomer is an interesting play on hotel room reservations that are non-refundable reservations booked by a traveler that then can’t go on his or her trip. If your hotel reservation is non-refundable and you can’t go what can you do? Roomer has built a peer-to-peer marketplace that enables the buying and selling of non-refundable room reservations.
Triptease one of my choices for the 4 finalists has created a social media marketing product for hotels that enables their guests to send postcards of their stay in real time posted to their Facebook friends news feeds and timeline. Social media marketing in travel is difficult. The Triptease team is concurring it.
Finally a shout out to Wayne Lopez and Ayoopa. Nicole and I both liked his business and think that ultimately they will succeed. We have a video interview with Wayne coming soon at TravelStartups.co.
VE-GO founders, Vika & Derek with their award and champagne.
Matt & Nicole Zito, Managing Partners Travel Startups Incubator. Media booth at the event.
Wayne Lopez Founder Ayoopa and Nicole Zito Travel Startups Incubator
Millennial generation to shape the travel industry over the next 5-10 years.
Rui Bom Founder 30K.com
Matt Zito, Travel Startups Incubator, Tim Hentschel CEO HotelPlanner.com, Edmond Mesrobian, CTO Expedia, Richard Wells, Insight Venture Partners
Joao Mendes Co Founder XTourmaker
Gon Ben David CEO Roomer
