Undergoing its fourth format change in its eighth year, the Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit now offers sixty-two travel technology companies an opportunity to pitch their customer value proposition, technology platform and business model to a judging panel of industry leaders.
Properly keeping score at the 2015 Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit requires laserlike focus, attention to detail, and most importantly, endurance… Photo Credit: Adam Burrell | Flickr
The big change this year is the introduction of a “The Battlegound,” a preliminary play-in round, where three out of twenty startups, being less than three years old and have less than $1 million in total funding to date, will have a chance to pitch in the full Travel Innovation Summit competition. There will be forty-one organizations persenting in the Travel Innovation Summit.
This is your one-stop resource for the full Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit, including summaries of the travel groups pitching for both the Battleground and Travel Innovation Summit Sessions, plus a list of judges (referred to as the “Dragons Den” this year,) and most importantly, a scorecard to capture your impressions and any mind-jogging comments – keeping 62 companies straight over two days can get tricky.
For your convenience, the scoring is based on the same six criteria used by the judges:
Technical innovation
Business Value
Marketplace Impact
Investment Potential
Team Quality
Presentation Quality
Additionally, for the Travel Innovation Summit, winners are awarded in in three categories, with an overall winner:
Startup: Companies less than 18 months
Emerging: Companies 18-36 months, in their early growth phase
Established: Companies 3 years or older, launching new products
If you are interested in learning more about these companies, below is all you need to know – their pitch, link to their website and Twitter handle and segment, plus the presenter’s name and role.
Adadyn
Website: http://adadyn.com Twitter: @adadyn Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Raj Beri – COO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:15 AM The Pitch: Adadyn makes programmatic advertising simple, affordable and approachable for travel marketers of all sizes.
Africa Bookings
Website: http://africabookings.com Twitter: @Africabookings1 Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Bruce Tapping – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:25 AM The Pitch: Gain an overview of Africa’s hotel distribution chain. Explore solutions to create revenue streams from the market’s demands.
Evergage
Website: http://evergage.com Twitter: @Evergage Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Karl Wirth – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:35 AM The Pitch: Travel companies can now capitalize on browsing behavior and historical data with personalization in real time.
Rakuten
Website: http://rakuten.com Twitter: @RakutenTravelJP Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Makoto Wakimizu – Product Manager Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:45 AM The Pitch: Enable users to fully explore your property’s top features before booking with the ‘Customized Page’ platform.
Guiddoo World
Website: http://guiddoo.com Twitter: @imguiddoo Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Vineet Budki – Founder Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:55 AM The Pitch: Find out how to build in-destination activities that enhance the traveler experience during the trip.
ClickTripz
Website: https://clicktripz.com Twitter: @Clicktripz Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Jeremy Murphy – COO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:05 AM The Pitch: ClickTripz is a travel technology company that builds innovative software solutions to serve the needs of suppliers, publishers, advertisers and travelers. From marketplaces that connect the industry through proprietary ad-serving technology, to cloud-based tools that help hoteliers put heads in beds– ClickTripz has solutions that drive revenue at scale.
Voyat
Website: http://voyat.com Twitter: @voyat Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Benjamin Habbel – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:15 AM The Pitch: Explore the newest release from the leading retention platform for hospitality: a game-changer for any direct booking channel and hotel website.
Proxce
Website: http://proxce.com Twitter: @proxce Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Madhu Madhusudhanan – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:25 AM The Pitch: Use proximity-based, contactless identification for mobile check-in and keyless entry at hotels.
conxxe
Website: http://conxxe.com Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Peter Hilton – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:35 AM The Pitch: Revolutionizing ground transportation partnerships with a technology for on-demand and pre-bookable options.
Eysys
Website: http://eysys.com Twitter: @eysyslimited Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Humphrey Sheil – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:45 AM The Pitch: Learn who will buy what and when, automatically pick personalized content and ads, create hot lead lists and more.
TripChamp
Website: http://tripchamp.com Twitter: @tripchamp Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Michael Culhane – CRO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:55 AM The Pitch: This frictionless marketplace for air and hotel resellers optimizes results using AI and saves businesses 10 – 20%.
VenueNext
Website: http://venuenext.com Twitter: @VenueNext Stage: STARTUP Presenter: John Paul – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 11:05 AM The Pitch: Give guests a context-aware smartphone connection to everything a venue has to offer.
LeisureLink
Website: http://leisurelink.com Twitter: @LeisureLink Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Julian Castelli – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 11:15 AM The Pitch: This easy-to-use software tool allows property managers to simultaneously manage vacation rental channels (such as Airbnb) with traditional channels (like Expedia) from one single platform.
MTT
Website: http://mttnow.com Twitter: @Mobile_Travel Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Paschal Nee – Director, Consulting Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:10 PM The Pitch: An intelligent mobile travel assistant that enables airlines and travel companies to transform the ‘day of travel’ in real time.
HomeToGo
Website: https://hometogo.com Twitter: @HomeToGo Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Dominik Schwarz – VP, Marketing & Communications Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:20 PM The Pitch: Search and find the best bargains with features like ‘Flex Search’ with this smart metasearch engine for vacation rentals.
Travefy
Website: https://travefy.com Twitter: @travefy Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: David Chait – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:30 PM The Pitch: This leading group travel planner provides powerful collaboration tools for travel brands, suppliers and agents.
Mozio
Website: https://mozio.com Twitter: @letsmozio Stage: EMERGING Presenter: David Litwak – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:40 PM The Pitch: This custom branded white-label app allows on-demand sedan booking in over 400 cities around the world.
Cornerstone Information Systems
Website: http://ciswired.com Twitter: @ciswired Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Mat Orrego – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:50 PM The Pitch: Meet 4site the newest event-driven mobile travel app providing real-time and contextual trip data to travelers’ phones.
Fusion
Website: http://fusion.com Twitter: @fusionmoment Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Mark Brown – VP, EMEA Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:00 PM The Pitch: Sell more ancillaries, more often. Discover how using real-time optimization drives the right offer at the right time in the right way.
HelloGbye
Website: https://hellogbye.com Twitter: @hellogbye Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Greg Apple – CMO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:10 PM The Pitch: Designed for the modern traveler, this tool delivers personalized options for booking travel in two minutes or less.
Moxie
Website: http://gomoxie.com Twitter: @moxiesoft Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Nikhil Govindaraj – VP, Products Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:20 PM The Pitch: See how this tool is transforming the digital experience by delivering modern engagement to modern customers.
Suiteness
Website: http://suiteness.com Twitter: @Suiteness Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Robbie Bhathal – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:30 PM The Pitch: Get exclusive access to luxury suites.
Headout
Website: https://headout.com Twitter: @Headout_App Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Varun Khona – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:40 PM The Pitch: An on-demand concierge that helps you discover and experience the world around you at the push of a button.
Musement
Website: https://musement.com Twitter: @musement Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Alessandro Petazzi – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:50 PM The Pitch: Travel with a concierge in your pocket and experience the best a city has to offer.
Hipmunk
Website: http://hipmunk.com Twitter: @hipmunk Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Adam Goldstein – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:00 PM The Pitch: Hipmunk is announcing a new product on stage. As you can probably guess, it will reduce the agony of travel search even more.
Milestone Internet Marketing
Website: http://milestoneinternet.com Twitter: @milestonemktg Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Anil Aggarwal – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:10 PM The Pitch: Marketing tools and reports overload? This single sign-on SaaS-based platform manages hotel marketing and channel analytics.
IBS Software Services
Website: http://ibsplc.com Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: David Friderici – VP, Product Management & Strategy, Airline Travel Services Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:20 PM The Pitch: Enabling flexible and unconstrained access to both external and internal travel inventory sources in a self-service mode.
TripCreator
Website: http://tripcreator.com Twitter: @TripCreator_com Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Hilmar Halldorsson – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:00 AM The Pitch: TripCreator enables users to plan and book their entire trip to Iceland in one place. Our state of the art suggestion engine provides an itinerary instantly based on the customer’s preferences to see and do that has already been checked for availability. The user can modify the itinerary according to his taste and then book every item in the itinerary without leaving the site. This includes, hotels, rental cars, tours and places of interests to see.
Sabre Hospitality Solutions
Website: http://sabre.com Twitter: @SabreHosp Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Robert Dawson – VP, Digital Marketing Services Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:10 AM The Pitch: The point of inspiration meets the point of sale in hotel shopping and booking.
Umapped
Website: http://umapped.com Twitter: @unmapped Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Lisa Israelovitch – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:20 AM The Pitch: A collaborative itinerary platform for travel suppliers, agents and travelers to plan, manage and experience trips together.
HOTELP2P
Website: http://hotelp2p.com Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Martin Fernandez – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:30 AM The Pitch: This app will replace the booking sites for a peer-to-peer platform in the next decade.
TTW Holdings
Website: http://thetripworks.com Twitter: @TheTripWorks Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Satish Singh – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:40 AM The Pitch: Effortless trip planning and seamless fulfillment combine with data points to move the customer to book.
Qalendra
Website: https://qalendra.com Twitter: @Qalendra Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Cristian Munteanu – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:50 AM The Pitch: Our patented algorithms ingest data from many sources, compare all destinations at once and identify where the best conditions for vacations and activities are, anywhere in the world, with months in advance.
QYER
Website: http://qyer.com Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Bryan Xiao – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:00 AM The Pitch: The painstaking task of making a fabulous travel plan is now simplified to a few clicks.
Tansler
Website: http://tansler.com Twitter: @tanslerrentals Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Jeremy Bernard – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:10 AM The Pitch: TANSLER (an anagram of RENTALS) is a vacation rental marketplace that allows renters to name their price, choose multiple homes & submit one binding offer. Hosts compete for the booking through a 24-hour ‘reverse auction’ & the first host to accept the offer ends the auction & confirms the reservation. Tansler eliminates the back-and-forth between renters & hosts making the rental process simpler, faster & more transparent.
AirHelp
Website: https://getairhelp.com Twitter: @theairhelper Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Henrik Zillmer – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:20 AM The Pitch: Money back and instant help for travelers when flights are delayed.
Triptease
Website: http://triptease.com Twitter: @Triptease Stage: EMERGING Presenter: Charlie Osmond – Chief Tease Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:30 AM The Pitch: Hotels are hurting. Explore how to improve brand.com, increase direct bookings and make online travel booking better.
Revinate
Website: http://revinate.com Twitter: @revinate Stage: ESTABLISHED Presenter: Josh Steinitz – VP, Global Business Development Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:40 AM The Pitch: Use guest data to deliver personalized experiences that create valuable relationships and lifelong customers.
TripBAM
Website: http://tripbam.com/ Twitter: @tripBAMRocks Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Steve Reynolds – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:50 AM The Pitch: We solve the travel manager’s three biggest challenges. We get the best rate possible. We increase compliance. We corral open bookings.
Trekkable
Website: http://trekkable.co Twitter: @GoTrekkable Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Benedict Jones – Founder Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:00 AM The Pitch: We help you find & book the best accessible hotel rooms!
Waygo
Website: http://waygoapp.com Twitter: @waygoapp Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Ryan Rogowski – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:10 AM The Pitch: Use a smartphone to point and instantly translate Chinese, Japanese & Korean.
Zizoo
Website: https://zizoo.com Twitter: @ZizooBoats Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Anna Bawicevic – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:20 AM The Pitch: Boat holidays made easy. 6,000 customer-reviewed boats in over 30 countries around the world.
Keeping track of 42 presentations over a day and one half can be difficult, so to help keep all those demos straight, use the form below to keep track of your scores and notes. There is also an option enter your name and email address. If you get them all right, there will be a record for you to provide as proof for any naysayers.
The winners will be announced at the last Center Stage session, following the interview with Expedia CEO Dara Khosroshahi and immediately preceeding the Wednesday evening cocktail reception.
The following firms competed in the preliminary Battleground competition:
Bellhop
Website: http://bellhop-app.com Twitter: @BellhopApp Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Payam Safa – CEO Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 2:45 PM The Pitch: Bellhop gives travelers access to all local restaurants, shows, activities, and transportation options from a single app.
Bucket
Website: http://likebucket.com Twitter: @LikeBucket Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Julia Lam – CEO Presentation: Fri, Nov 27 – 4:40 PM The Pitch: We help your adventures come to life by turning ideas to action. Collect trip ideas from anywhere across the web, personalize your trip by writing notes, uploading photos, and starring your favorite places and go see where your places are around you on a map.
Grab
Website: https://grabmobileapp.com Twitter: @grabmobileapp Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Jeff Livney – CXO Presentation: Sat, Nov 21 – 3:25 PM The Pitch: Grab unlocks travelers’ access to all airport dining and retail opportunities.
Guidekick
Website: http://guidekick.co Twitter: @Guidekick Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Mark Paddon – CEO Presentation: Mon, Nov 23 – 3:45 PM The Pitch: Guidekick is a mobile application platform for the world’s attractions.
Hitlist
Website: http://hitlistapp.com Twitter: @hitlist_app Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Gillian Morris – Founder Presentation: Sun, Nov 22 – 3:35 PM The Pitch: At Hitlist we have one mission: to help you travel more for less. Our intelligent filters help you find trips that suit your time, destination preferences and budget. We want to help people connect face to face and in doing so hope to build a friendlier world.
Hotelied
Website: https://hotelied.com Twitter: @Hotelied Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Zeev Sharon – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 2:55 PM The Pitch: Hotelied was founded based on the idea that every traveler brings something valuable to the hotels they stay in. Whether it is their social media influence, their travel loyalty, or even the industry they work in, every guest should be rewarded by hotels for who they are. Therefore, we have created the first hotel booking site where hotels can target exclusive, personal discounts and amenities to the guests they love.
Lokafy
Website: https://lokafy.com Twitter: @lokafytravel Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Kiran Samra – CEO Presentation: Sun, Nov 29 – 5:00 PM The Pitch: When you’re traveling, it’s easy to ignore this, and walk through a city the way you’d flip through a book. Lokafy wants to change this by connecting travelers with city locals who can not only share new places, but what those places mean to them. Lokafy helps travellers see a new city through the eyes of the people who live in it. Letting you see cities as they are meant to be seen.
Magpie
Website: https://getmagpie.com Twitter: @getmagpie Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Huong Tran – CEO Presentation: Tue, Dec 1 – 5:20 PM The Pitch: The world’s first private membership club for female travelers.
Pana
Website: https://pana.com Twitter: @HelloPana Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Devon Tivana – CEO Presentation: Thu, Dec 3 – 5:40 PM The Pitch: Pana is your on-demand travel concierge for planning and booking all of your travel needs.
SeatWizer
Website: http://seatwizer.com Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Richard McCartney – Co-founder Presentation: Tue, Nov 24 – 3:55 PM The Pitch: Try before you fly! Helping you find the most comfortable seat you can afford.
Sharethebus
Website: https://sharethebus.com Twitter: @sharethebus Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Kyle Boulay – CEO Presentation: Fri, Nov 20 – 3:15 PM The Pitch: Sharethebus.com is a place to join, create and share custom charter bus trips across North America.
TravelWits
Website: http://travelwits.com Twitter: @TravelWitsCom Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Maxim Likhachev – CEO Presentation: Thu, Nov 26 – 4:30 PM The Pitch: TravelWits.com lets people find cheapest combinations of flying and driving automatically. You enter your origin and destination, and TravelWits searches all airports, small and large, that are within driving distance, and finds the combinations that save you the most money.
TRYTN
Website: https://trytn.com Twitter: @trytn Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Reza Barissi – CEO Presentation: Mon, Nov 30 – 5:10 PM The Pitch: Trytn has been custom-built to address the e-commerce needs of service providers, including an easy-to-use interface that makes promoting and booking activities a breeze.
Visit.org
Website: https://visit.org Twitter: @VisitDotOrg Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Michal Alter – CEO Presentation: Sat, Dec 5 – 6:00 PM The Pitch: Book 130+ immersive, impactful tours & activities from local communities in 26 countries.
Voopter
Website: https://voopter.com.br Twitter: @voopter_brasil Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Pettersom Paiva – CEO Presentation: Wed, Nov 25 – 4:05 PM The Pitch: Voopter compares prices of airline tickets and hotels hundreds of airlines and online travel agencies.
WeTravel
Website: https://wetravel.to Twitter: @wetravel_to Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Johannes Koeppel – CEO Presentation: Wed, Dec 2 – 5:30 PM The Pitch: Organize and collect money for your group trips
Wyndow
Website: http://wyndow.com Twitter: @wyndow Stage: STARTUP Presenter: Oleg Kaganovich – CEO Presentation: Mon, Nov 16 – 2:35 PM The Pitch: Find fun things to do, when you’re ready to do them.
