Troovo is the champion of the WIT 2017 Start-up Pitch, powered by Travelport Accelerator Labs. Troovo, a virtual payment processing system for the corporate travel industry, beat out two other finalists at the Grand Finals hosted on the final day of the WIT 2017 Conference on October 25: Travelsify, a hotel ‘DNA’ content platform; and Muslim-friendly and Islamic travel platform, Ooomra.
Troovo has won the grand prize of a place in the Travelport Labs Startup Accelerator in Denver, Colorado, with up to USD$30,000 in seed funding. The winner also received a ticket to the Phocuswright Conference in Florida this November and a ticket to WIT 2018, next October in Singapore.
Competition was stiff this year, with a record-breaking number of over 40 entries from around the world. Ten startups moved on to compete in the Semi-Finals, which took place at the WIT Bootcamp on October 23.
Troovo competing at the WIT 2017 Startup Pitch Semi-Finals
Last year’s winner, MyCape Inc., shared its journey post-WIT recently and was also in attendance at the conference.
“When we got accepted at Travelport Labs, that event singlehandedly became pivotal for us. The rest was history. Travelport Labs led us to a lot of things. Meeting mentors, learning essential stuff how to run a startup and everything that’s necessary for us to be on our own right after,” said Lyle Jover, co-founder and CEO of MyCape, Inc.
The semi-finalists and eventual finalists were narrowed down by a team of 10 judges, including:
Fritz Demopoulos (CEO, Queen’s Road Capital); William Bao Bean (General Partner, SOSV; Managing Director, Chinaaccelerator); David Zimmer (Global Head of Product and Innovation, Hospitality, Travelport); Kei Shibata (CEO, Venture Repbulic); Kuo-Yi Lim (Managing Partner, Monk’s Hill Ventures); Aya Yamoto (Chief Business Analyst, Recruit); Pauline Andriejanssen (Investor, B Capital Group); Bart Bellers (Founding Partner & CEO, Xpdite Ventures); Duncan Horton (CEO, Jacobs Media Group); John Butler (Vice President, Information Technology Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel).
