WIT Indonesia startup winner takes plunge into dive marketplace
Congratulations to Deepdive Travel, the victors of WIT Indonesia’s Start-Up of the Year!
Deepdive presented the most compelling pitch to an admittedly intimidating judging panel of industry experts, including Kei Shibata (CEO Venture Republic), David Peller (Booking.com), Brett Henry (AngelVest [...]
The intent behind Air Black Box and how it got to power Value Alliance
The technology powering the just-announced Value Alliance, which sees eight low cost airlines partnering on a sales and distribution platform allowing customers to book on all of them, including ancillaries in a single booking, was developed by UK-based startup, Air Black Box.
ABB was set up by c [...]
Serial entrepreneur at the age of 22: Here’s how this young man built a profitable startup after being chucked out of his flat
Ritesh Agarwal is a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs. He has achieved everything in life that an ordinary young man could not do at this age. He is India’s first graduate of the Thiel Fellowship, a programme started by PayPal Founder Peter Thiel. He is also author of a best-selling book The E [...]
Google’s quest to become our personal travel assistant – to be loved or feared?
You could almost feel the air being sucked out of the room as Oliver Heckmann of Google closed off Day 1 of Phocuswright Dublin with a talk on everything the world’s largest search engine was doing in travel. I sensed everyone was grappling with the massive implications everyone of its products wo [...]
She escapes a revolution, starts a ‘LinkedIn=Kickstarter’ for women entrepreneurs
Tunisian-born Mouna Aouri Langendorf remembers the Arab Spring well. Her first child was born three days before the outbreak of the Tunisian Revolution in January 2011.
“I was lucky to get to a hospital and within days of delivery, we were trapped in our house. There was a curfew and my husband [...]
Tripfez raises US$750k seed Investment, to use funds for expansion
Tripfez, a Malaysia-based online travel agency and hotel review platform to provide Muslim travellers with a better travel experience, has raised US$750,000 seed round of financing.The round was led by Gobi Partners and Intres Capital (AXIATA Group), and followed by several angel investors in the tr [...]
Letter from Bali: It’s Indonesia’s time in the digital sun
It’s a full flight. The beginning of a long weekend for Singaporeans and Bali’s always a quick and good two-hour-flight escape for stressed out city folks.There are lots of Australians too on the flight, connecting via Changi which, to no one’s surprise, has just been named “best airport to [...]
QuadLabs Technologies, Travog wins APAC Travel Innovator of the Year award
Travel industry research authority, Phocuswright, has announced the award winners of the first Asia Pacific Travel Innovation Summit during Phocuswright India, currently underway in Gurgaon, India.Ten innovators took the stage to demonstrate their applications and solutions that are set to change th [...]
Vacation rental software startup Lodgify raises US$1.6mil round
Barcelona-based vacation rental software startup, Lodgify, has raised €1.4 million (US$1.6 million) in a financing round led by Nauta Capital.Existing investors Chris Hitchen, HOWZAT Partners, and Roland Zeller also participated in the round.The new investment brings Lodgify's total funding to € [...]
Relux uses new funds to expand inbound business on back of Abe’s ambitious targets
Loco Partners, which manages the members-only luxury hotels and ryokan booking site, Relux, will use the latest 500m yen (about US$4.5m) raised to expand its service for Japanese users as well as expand its inbound business for overseas visitors, signaling a step-up in the competition for inbound to [...]
