Ten semi-finalists, covering areas from tours & activities to hotel technology solutions and a photography marketplace, have been selected to compete in the WIT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch happening in Tokyo June 28-29.
Powered by Amadeus APAC, the competition will see one winner crowned on June 29 at WIT Japan & North Asia and go on to be part of the Phocuswright Innovators programme.
The 10 were picked by a panel of judges comprising names such as Bobby Healy, Chief Technical Officer, CarTrawler; Kenichi Shibata, COO, Venture Republic Inc.; Kotaro Chiba, Investor / General Partner, Drone Fund; Kuan Hsu, Co-Founder & General Partner, KK Fund; Masaki Hata, Senior Manager, Regional Revitalisation Japan Solution; Mitsuki Matsuda, CEO, GX Incubate Inc.; Wayne Chu, Investment Partner, MindWorks Ventures; Yuko Saito, VP Strategic Market Development APAC, Criteo. The live judging rounds, on June 28 & 29, will be chaired by Sebastien Gibergues, Amadeus’ vice president for online travel Asia Pacific.
Said Gibergues, “Amadeus is eager to work with startups. Back in 2015, we launched Amadeus Next, an initiative to help build and foster the cutting edge travel tech startup community in Asia Pacific. We work closely with entrepreneurs to help them ignite and advance their ideas. With the support of Amadeus and our trusted partners, we help create an environment in which startups can grow.”
Once part of Amadeus Next, startups have access to Amadeus’ technology to build their MVPs, our in-house experts to gain knowledge on how the travel domain works and of course Amadeus’ customers to validate their products. We can also connect startups to venture capital around the world if they are in need of funding. To date, Amadeus is working with 33 startups in the programme and has over 70 active partners (next.amadeus.com),” he added.
Winners of the WIT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch will be provided with “Amadeus mentorship”, to help startups grow their business and leverage Amadeus’ reach.
This year, WIT has also teamed up with Phocuswright in a search for two APAC Innovators that will be given opportunities to fast track their business ideas to become successful ventures on the global stage.
The winner will receive a one-year membership into the Phocuswright Innovation Platform. This membership offers access to a diverse network of advisors and its network of innovation partner events. Also included is one conference ticket for The Phocuswright Conference taking place November 13-15 in Los Angeles. The winner will be invited to participate in a startup day held on November 12, comprised of a three to four-hour programme that includes curated content developed by Phocuswright’s Innovation Advisory Board and Platform Partners.
“We’re always looking for ways to add value to our competition and this year’s partnerships with Phocuswright and Amadeus give participating startups global exposure and access to a wide range of opportunities, whether it be in funding or mentorship,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder, WiT.
“Almost 20 years back, we stepped foot in Japan, where we now have almost 100 people across four locations. Last year, we reached an important milestone in successfully transitioning Japan Airlines (JAL) the Amadeus Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS). We continue to be very active with OTAs and Metasearch companies here. We see WIT Japan as the place to be to network and share the Amadeus story with the key online travel players, while getting the latest insights into the fast growing Japanese market,” said Gibergues.
For more information, visit WIT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2018.
About WIT Japan & North Asia
WIT Japan & North Asia is organised jointly by Singapore-based WIT and WIT Japan Alumni, led by Kei Shibata, CEO of Venture Republic (travel.jp) and Aya Aso, founder and CEO of Savvy Collective. This year will see the seventh edition of WIT to be held in Tokyo. The conference attracted over 500 delegates in 2017.
Registrations are now open. Click here to register.
