Uncovering stories of startups in Asia Part 2: Of size, investments and restrictive policies
Startups from China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Nepal and Israel took to the stage at the WiT Bootcamp held in conjunction with WiT Singapore 2018 conference last month to share their stories and the state of the startup ecosystem in their countries.
In the second part of the report we h [...]
Northstar Travel Group accelerates digital transformation with launch of Northstar Studio 90
Northstar Travel Group (Northstar) has launched Northstar Studio 90, a digital strategy and content marketing team focused on delivering business performance for their clients' marketing investments.
The new team will tap directly into Northstar’s proprietary audience data and content expertise [...]
Study: India, Indonesia have the most digitally-advanced travellers
India and Indonesia with their large young populations of 'digital natives' are, unsurprisingly, the top two countries with the most digitally-advanced travellers, with India holding the top spot for the second year in a row (2017 & 2018).
Brazil (up one spot to third), China (slipped to fou [...]
Hotelbeds widens reach into ancillary space with acquisition of UK-based HolidayTaxis
Hotelbeds has acquired HolidayTaxis Group (HolidayTaxis) to reinforce its "commitment to growth in the rapidly the rapidly expanding ancillary distribution space."
The bedbank said this latest acquisition was a "strategic fit" following its recent decision to rename its ancillary product line as [...]
Grab partners with Indonesia Ministry of Tourism to boost inbound travel to new destinations
Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia has partnered with O2O mobile platform, Grab, to accelerate inbound travel growth within ASEAN. The one-year partnership will comprise ‘Smart Tourism’ initiatives on Grab, designed to offer users a “value-added experience” for both domestic an [...]
Sojern to expand into new markets with US$120m fresh funding
Travel tech firm Sojern has raised US$120 million Series D led by growth equity firm TCV, raising its total funding to US$162.5 million over five rounds.
TCV has also invested in companies including Airbnb, Expedia, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, SiteMinder, ExactTarget, Act-On and Ariba.
Sojern, the [...]
Book publishing, crowd funding, experiences – Mr & Mrs Smith’s formula for expansion
By many accounts, boutique hotel booking platform Mr & Mrs Smith has had an interesting year.
In April, it announced its step into the experiences space with the acquisition of UK-based tours and activities company, SideStory. Then, it announced plans to raise funds, albeit in an unconvention [...]
Uncovering stories of startups in Asia Part 1: Of challenges, funding and going global
Startups from China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Nepal and Israel took to the stage at the WiT Bootcmap held in conjunction with WiT Singapore 2018 conference last month to share their stories and the state of the startup ecosystem in their countries.
In this first part of the report we f [...]
e27 Academy Scholarship is open for entries, deadline November 23
Calling all entrepreneurs! e27 Academy – a three-day startup learning programme in Batam (November 28-30) – has launched a scholarship programme, open to any early stage startup founders with an innovative business idea or market-ready product.
e27 Academy will offer a series of workshops, ro [...]
TripAdvisor launches redesigned website as “go-to resource for travel”
TripAdvisor, the largest travel website in the world “with nearly half a billion unique visitors every month”, has launched its new homepage worldwide.
The idea behind the redesign is to give travellers searching for places to go or where to stay to discover recommendations from friends, fami [...]
