Congratulations to Deepdive Travel, the victors of WIT Indonesia’s Start-Up of the Year!
Deepdive presented the most compelling pitch to an admittedly intimidating judging panel of industry experts, including Kei Shibata (CEO Venture Republic), David Peller (Booking.com), Brett Henry (AngelVest) and Timothy Hughes (Agoda), Kusumo Martanto (GDP Venture), Steven Vanada (Cyber Agent Ventures), and James Tan (Quest Ventures).
Deepdive won the judges’ attention and votes, beating out two other contenders, Telook (a ‘lifestyle’ e-commerce platform, and Calova (an app that provides users with information on events related to skill development).
Founded in October 2015, Deepdive Travel aims to be an online marketplace and community, connecting divers with dive centres.
The expert panel of judges didn’t hold back on asking tough questions
Alongside the marketplace (which sells travel packages, dive licenses, and snorkels), Deepdive also wants to encourage social interaction amongst the diver community by allowing users on the platform to create groups, structure timelines and leave comments.
For its corporate partners, Deepdive has integrated CRM as well as management tools for dive operators.
Its primary source of revenue is via a booking service fee from both the site and their mobile app. It also generates revenue through a premium user subscription fee, advertising and sponsorships.
Deepdive is currently focused on Indonesia and the local travel market, as the world’s largest archipelago is home to some of the world’s best dive spots.
In following years, the team hopes to expand further into South-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand, before eventually also becoming a dive gear marketplace.
With more than 6 million active divers worldwide (plus 20 million snorkelers) and more than 1.2 million diving licenses each year globally, Deepdive will cater to an ever-expanding consumer base.
As this year’s victors, Deepdive took home IDR3 million worth of vouchers from blibli.com, two tickets from Malindo Air, and two tickets to the WIT 2016 Conference in Singapore.
Telook went on to win the People’s Choice award for the best start-up, as voted by the audience.
