Lyft accelerates in Europe. Lighthouse enhances hospitality tech. Zenmer’s AI agent. More.
Lyft acquires FreeNow for €175M, doubling its market reach
Lyft is expanding beyond North America for the first time with the acquisition of German mobility platform FreeNow for €175 million. The deal, expected to close in the second half of the year, will extend Lyft’s ride-hailing services [...]
Legends: From Global Startup Pitch winner to industry trailblazer
Legends, a pioneering travel technology company, has emerged as a significant success story since winning the Web in Travel (WiT) and Phocuswright Global Startup Pitch award. Legends is helping to transform the travel industry by leveraging AI and data to turn consented consumer data into real-tim [...]
From Labubu to Lady Gaga: Singapore’s tourism bets big amid global gloom
In a world clouded by tariffs, tensions and teetering economies, Singapore is doubling down on a singular message – tourism is not just nice to have, it’s critical to its future. And from Pop Mart’s shaggy star Labubu to pop icon Lady Gaga, dinosaurs to robots, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB [...]
AI at hyperspeed: TripGenie goes multi-modal, launches live translation
How Amy Wei is building a contextual companion, whether at home or abroad
In a recent podcast, the former editor of Wired, Kevin Kelly said that his biggest concern about AI was the speed of change and how we humans would be able to keep up with these machine learning models or “geniuses” as he [...]
Rob Rosenstein on the crazy early days, cowboy stories and capital flow | Conversations On Turning 20
When you get to the ripe young age of 20, you’re bound to collect lots of stories – not only about the past but lessons for the future.
As WiT marks its 20th year in 2025, we turn the spotlight on our community, our tribe pioneers and leaders, to tell their stories and share their views on th [...]
From Startup winner to global success: Wheel the World’s accessible travel revolution continues
Revenue has tripled since winning Global Startup Pitch two years ago – improving access to travel for more than 20,000 people
Wheel the World, the award-winning online travel marketplace making the world accessible to people with disabilities, is empowering tourism offices, destination marketing [...]
Australia and Japan lead the global surge in sports tourism
Expedia Group study reveals how sports travel is transforming the way people plan their trips –with passionate fans from Australia and Japan setting the pace.
Sports tourism is having a global moment – and nowhere is that more evident than in Australia and Japan, where fans are shaping a new er [...]
Echoes of Eurasia: A new heritage stay in Penang by Chris Ong
When it comes to breathing new life into old bones, few do it as elegantly as Chris Ong. The banker-turned-hotelier – whose name is synonymous with some of Penang’s most evocative heritage properties such as Muntri Mews and Seven Terraces – is back after a seven-year hiatus with his most intim [...]
From surfing to startups: Ross Veitch on founding Wego, cracking the Middle East, and the AI-driven future of travel
Ross Veitch never set out to be a tech founder. In fact, he was closer to becoming a full-time surfer than a CEO. Yet today, as co-founder and CEO of Wego, one of the leading travel metasearch and marketplace platforms serving the Middle East and Asia Pacific, Veitch is proof that unconventional beg [...]
Trump, tariffs and travel: How will the turbulence play out in Asia?
Could intra-Asia travel provide a soft landing?
Travel industry leaders around the world are bracing themselves for the fallout of the Trump tariffs announced yesterday, and even more so in Asia, where most countries have been lumped into the “worst offenders” bucket and are facing what BBC de [...]
