AI and data, payments and airports keeping interest of Amadeus Ventures
THE first thing Amadeus Ventures did when the pandemic struck was to support its portfolio companies to “make sure the companies and people were in a safe place”, said Suzanna Chiu, head of the strategic funding programme that invests in early stage travel startups.
“We worked out conting [...]
How SmartRyde diversified from Asia to ride through Covid and raised $1.6m
FOR Sota Kimura, founder of SmartRyde, it’s been quite a ride since he founded the global airport transfer marketplace in March 2017 to September 2021 when it raised approximately US$1.6 million in Series A funding round.
As a student, he often found himself “in trouble with ground transpor [...]
Living the life of Riley in Cornwall
BeMyGuest’s CTO on living with Covid, remote working and building software during a pandemic
BEING in Cornwall, after not having left Singapore in more than two years, has given Ross Riley, CTO of BeMyGuest a different outlook on several things.
For one,
it’s given him a more positive ou [...]
Allseated EXVO 3D platform makes Asian debut at WiT’s “Homecoming”
Skypark by AJ Hackett will offer a first of its kind hybrid experience
ON October 20, during the “Homecoming” reception of WiT Experience Singapore 2021, a new virtual home of Skypark by AJ Hackett, Sentosa, will be unveiled. Built by Allseated EXVO, it marks the American 3D virtual event pl [...]
“It’s no secret B2B sales are often relationship-based,” says Vouch’s Ling on first business trip since pandemic
Expansion in Europe on back of $1.1m raise
IT is fitting that Joseph Ling’s first trip abroad in the last 20 months was to London where the Singapore-based founder and CEO of Vouch is not only marking his US$1.1 million seed round but also the expansion of his chatbot-based concierge solution [...]
New VTLs welcomed, but hopes are for “achingly slow” reopening to be speeded up and simplified
Time for Singapore to scrap quarantine for all vaccinated travellers, says Wego's Veitch
FOR travel executives based in Singapore, the first significant reopening of its borders announced over the weekend couldn’t have come sooner and while they welcomed it, the general sentiment is it needs t [...]
Covid has enabled more interesting conversations with hotel owners, says IHG’s Serena Lim
FOR Serena Lim, who’s been involved in hotel development work for the past two decades – indeed it was her first job in hospitality – one of the biggest pleasures of her work is going into uncharted territory and scoping out feasibility and development opportunities for new builds in remote d [...]
“A roller coaster ride in which we puked couple of times”
Otherwise, Tribe’s Jason Loe on silver linings to pandemic
SINGAPORE experience curator, Tribe, has stood out amid the pandemic as being creative and resourceful. Its Chinatown Murders tour won it Outstanding Tour Experience 2021. At times though, we are sure the pandemic must have brought its [...]
TechSembly now wants to focus on hospitality. Here’s why.
BUOYED by the success it’s seen with its first hotel client, The Peninsula Hotels, TechSembly, an e-commerce platform that builds local storefronts for businesses, is taking the plunge to focus on the hospitality sector.
CEO and co-founder, Amy Read, first met executives from the Hong Kong-ba [...]
In marriage of two giants, Marriott and Rakuten take vow on loyalty
Part of a broader hyper-local strategy, says Toomey
MARRIOTT International and Rakuten Group have signed a partnership that will allow their customers to dip into each other’s loyalty programmes, in a landmark deal that plays to two trends accelerated by Covid.
For Marriott, it’s about go [...]
