Three starts-ups made it to the finals at the WIT Start-Up Pitch during the annual WIT 2015 Conference in Singapore on October 21, and just one took home the “crown”.
All smiles – Shashin, Rimoto’s co-founder (right), and Martin Symes.
The winner is Rimoto, a disruptive service that enables international travellers to book a taxi, buy show tickets, or make reservations in a restaurant for free without the use of WiFi or roaming services. They just have to download the app once and it will activate automatically in the background. It was launched.
Martin Symes, chief marketing officer of Sabre Travel Network, Asia Pacific, said the judges chose Rimoto as it has huge consumer appeal and people will use the service.
Mi Zhou of 42 Race receiving the award from Martin Symes.
42 Race won the People’s Choice award. A web/mobile platform for marathoners to plan “running vacations”, it is also for tourists who travel for marathons as well as a one-stop portal for marathon travel resources.
The start-up that did not make it was Wellobox – a service to provide hosts (travel related brands) with incentives to enhance guests’ experience. In return they could earn more revenue and better reviews.
The judges felt that while it was an attractive consumer proposition, they were concerned about the money it could make from the hosts.
But without or without the “crown” all three are winners for their creativity and innovation in making travel more hassle-free, convenient, and fun.
Congratulations Rimoto, 42 Race, and Wellobox from all of us at WIT.
