Mystifly raises US$3.3m amid Covid upheaval, heralds new era of the “retail airline”
Other than the fund-raise, the biggest positive of Covid-19 has been his move back to his hometown of Kolar. “I don’t see myself moving back to urban life after this,” says Rajeev Kumar.
In its more than 10 years of being around, you could say Mystifly, the Bengalaru-based air retailing an [...]
Rethinking Trade Exhibitions: Lessons from China and creating a new hybrid world
In my career as a journalist, I’ve gone from print to web, then from web to mobile. Now I’ve gone from physical events to virtual and hybrid. Each time, it has meant surrendering old territory but always gaining new ones. Each moment creates an opportunity to create a new space, a new world.
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Letters from the various corners of the world, with love
Industry stalwarts from various parts of the world were invited to pen letters to the WiT Community and then deliver them at the recently concluded WiT Virtual Summit. What these letters highlighted were the nostalgia we all feel around travel, the hard reality of what has happened to travel, but a [...]
We are all in the same boat but it appears to be different oceans
“Even in tiny Singapore, we have our own small ocean to explore. I've booked a boat trip to an outer island, no passport required. Where you are determines your outlook, but we need new eyes. Freedom, grab it when you can.”
The previous week, I got so excited I nearly fell off the high chair [...]
The themes that unite the world of online travel: Key takeaways from WiT Virtual Summit
“Unite” was the theme and, as the WiT Virtual Summit went round the world in six hours, it was clear a few key themes united the world of online travel.
Here are the key takeaways.
1. Domestic recovery begins, but “be prepared for stumbles”
In Samui for his first trip since the ou [...]
Jungle Ventures, forged out of failure, sees more “beautiful exits” in travel post-Covid
“Best time to start a business – so much talent, so much that is broken, technology tailwinds happening”, says Amit Anand
Amit Anand, co-founder and managing partner of Singapore-based global tech fund Jungle Ventures, which made two “beautiful” exits in travel from GoVoyagin (to Rakut [...]
New metrics needed to measure “touchy-feely” aspects, hybrid means longer product cycles – major rethink needed in business events sector
Covid-19 and its forcing us enmasse into the world of virtual and hybrid events is throwing up some very tough challenges for an industry, used to running physical events, to confront.
They range from finding new metrics to prove its value to changing its mindset to thinking longer product cycl [...]
Rappi Travel sees slight uptick in bookings, ready to ride on superapp’s growing reach across Latin America
Latin America’s superapp, Rappi, launched its travel vertical in February, which is either bad timing or good, depending how you look at it.
For Guido Becher, head of Rappi Travel, it was good because it meant the company didn’t have to deal with the chaos that ensued with the breakout of t [...]
Some corporate travel may not return, buyers and TMCs invest in tech for a new future
The reality is sobering. It’s going to take a while for corporate travel to get back up, especially that of the major multinationals. SMEs, well, that’s a different story for another day.
Novartis, for example, is not permitting international travel for internal meetings for the rest of th [...]
TravelFlan raising $12m to expand, buys OTA in Beijing, lining up Seoul
Following its Series A raise of US$7m last December, Hong Kong-based TravelFlan, a travel and lifestyle AI-digital solution startup, is in the midst of raising an additional US$12m to expand across Asia. To date, the company has raised more than $9.9 million.
Said Abel Zhao, who co-founded the [...]
