SEED Group, a company of the Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum (company belonging to the Royal Family of Dubai), has joined forces with TravelFlan to grow the lifestyle and tourism sector in the Middle East.
For Hong Kong-based TravelFlan, a travel and lifestyle AI-digital solution startup and part of the Freed Group, the collaboration is also to facilitate its expansion in the UAE and the wider Middle East region.
Hisham Al Gurg, CEO of Seed Group and the Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, points out travel and tourism is one of the most affected industries due to Covid. “As per the United Nations, 2020 was one of the worst years in the history of tourism. As the industry recovers in 2021 and beyond we need more tech disruptors like TravelFlan to fuel the overall growth.”
He added that through the partnership Seed Group would assist TravelFlan on its expansion journey. “Our wealth of industry expertise and market insights will help them to identify and address the exact pain points the industry is facing.”
TravelFlan’s chief executive and co-founder Abel Zhao said there is a “lot of potential” in its partnership with Seed Group. “We are looking forward to gaining from their cutting-edge market knowledge and offer customised offerings to our clients in the UAE and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.”
Founded in 2015, TravelFlan’s database is powered by over 20 million weekly unique data points with its home-grown machine learning capabilities. Initially started as a B2C platform it diversified into B2B2C business in 2019.
Its AI Concierge chatbot interface serves as a commercial transaction and travel booking platform that also offers smart recommendations and unique experiences to users. Currently, it is working with a number of companies including Travelport, China Mobile and Samsung.
In December 2019 TravelFlan raised US$7 million in Series A funding, and is in the midst of conducting Series B round (read related article on funding). To date, the startup has raised a total of US$10.6 million.
Seed Group has formed strategic alliances with a number of global companies, as well propelled their business interests and goals in the MENA region through regional connections. It states its goal is “to create mutually beneficial partnerships with multinational organisations and to accelerate their sustainable market entry and presence within the region.”
• Featured image credit (Dubai Marina): RobertBreitpaul/Getty Images
