Japanese angel investors dangle US$100,000 carrot ahead of WiT Japan & North Asia 2019 Startup Pitch
Three Japanese angel investors have announced an additional incentive of up to US$100,000 funding for the winner of the WiT Japan & North Asia 2019 Startup Pitch which takes place from July 4 to 5 in Tokyo.
Kei Shibata, Kenichi Shibata and Ken Mishima, who have been actively involved in nur [...]
Letter from Green Acres & The Habitat, Penang: Where the grass is indeed greener and nature richer
“I think something’s changed,” said Eric Chong, owner of Green Acres, an eco-resort built within a durian orchard in Penang. “Our occupancies have doubled since last year. I think travellers are really looking for different, authentic experiences.”
Where are they coming from, I asked.
[...]
More funds in pocket, GuestReady Group set for Asia expansion
Short-term rental management company GuestReady Group, with the latest round of Series A funding of US$6 million, is now set to “fuel growth across Asia and Europe”.
This latest round was co-led by Dubai-based VentureSouq and Abramovich-backed Impulse VC, which led GuestReady’s Seed round [...]
Inside Inge De Lathauwer’s passion project: Changing lives in Sumba and proving a sustainable model in hospitality can pay off
Sumba Hospitality Foundation was one of the startups that qualified for a grant from Booking Booster, the Booking.com programme that supports social enterprises. With the 100,000 Euro funds, it hopes to boost profitability at its eco-resort so that eventually it can support the school that prepares [...]
Startup Spotlight: Travelcheck.co.za wants to help South African travellers build their own dynamic travel packages
Meet Travelcheck.co.za – a new breed of OTA based out of South Africa. We caught up with CEO, Odette Faling on how this new online travel startup is helping South African travellers save through dynamic packages and bundled trips.
Describe the business, core products and services in one paragr [...]
Booking Holdings invests in Korean hotel booking startup Yanolja, Asia’s latest travel unicorn
Korean hotel platform, Yanolja, has raised US$180 million in Series D funding led by Booking Holdings and Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC. The South Korea-based hotel booking website has now secured a total of $242 million in funding.
This latest round boosts Yanolja’s total
valuation to [...]
BookMeBus wants to change the way locals and travellers explore Cambodia by digitising bus travel
A finalist at WiT Singapore 2018 and the winner of ‘Most Promising Travel Startup’ at the Echelon Asia Summit 2018, BookMeBus has big plans to shake up the transportation sector in Cambodia and beyond.
If BookMeBus has its way, people in
Cambodia and eventually across ASEAN, as well as trav [...]
Startup Spotlight: SpareFare.net wants to help people make their money back on unused bookings
This week, WiT chats to Galena Stavreva, CEO of SpareFare.net – a startup on a mission to help people resell their unused travel reservations to online bargain hunters.
Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph.
SpareFare.net
connects people who have bought flights, [...]
Top 10 semifinalists picked for final showdown at WiT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2019
Ten semi-finalists have been judged and selected for a final pitch and showdown at the upcoming WiT Japan & North Asia event in Tokyo this July.
Amadeus is supporting the startup pitch event which attracted close to 30 entries from 11 countries.
The WiT Startup Pitch is an ann [...]
A Bird’s Eye View: What will OTA 4.0 look like?
I guess if someone had been asked 20 years ago what an OTA 1.0 might look like, few people would have the answer – until Booking.com and Expedia did it in 1996 and Ctrip followed in 1999, and showed the way.
It’s a testament to these three that two decades on, they are still on top of their [...]
