Travelport has developed a seed stage investment and mentorship programme to accelerate the growth of start-up companies focused on travel commerce.
The incubation proramme is conducted once every four months. (Image credit: Travelport)
The Incubation programme will run in four-month-cycles with four start-ups accepted for each cycle. Mentors will be in-house Travelport experts with start-up experience and mentorship background.
The company said participants in the programme will have access to its team of experienced product managers, designers, developers and coaches globally, as well as its APIs, software development kits (SDKs) and data feeds.
Additionally, Travelport will also provide practical support such as office space and other support services the start-ups.
At the end of each cycle, the start-ups will have the opportunity to pitch their innovations to senior Travelport executives, investors and other potential partners from across the travel industry, in a bid to secure future investment.
Jason Nash, head of marketing and product incubation, said: “We’re serious about redefining travel commerce, and we know there are some highly talented developers and travel start-ups out there who are also looking to have a positive impact on the travel commerce landscape.
Jason Nash: Travelport serious about redefining travel commerce.
“Our programme is different because we’re running it completely in-house with dedicated experts which really demonstrates how involved we want to get and our level of commitment to taking the most successful ventures forward.”
The first Incubator session is planned to begin in late summer, and follows a similar incubation programme that has been running internally for Travelport employees. Interested parties can apply for it here.
Added Nash: “We’ve already tested our approach with our internal teams and figured out how to run a programme like this and maximise the adoption of lean and agile marketing methodology. This has also successfully helped us identify some budding internal entrepreneurs, many of whom were in unrelated roles, and we now want to replicate that success and support innovation in the external incubator programme.”
In April this year AirAsia Group’s two bosses, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, teamed up with Malaysian businessman, Lim Kian Onn, to form Tune Labs, a Kuala Lumpur-based start-up incubator and accelerator programme to identify, mentor and fund entrepreneurs across the Asean region. (Read story here).
• Featured image credit (teamwork ideas): ABDESIGN/iStock
