Articles tagged “startups”

Startups in India and Turkey have benefited from investment by venture capital firms located outside those countries. That's a trend that's a mixed blessing.

Travel startups raised more than $72 million this week. The most promising of these is Treebo, which is banking on branded hotel networks as a niche in India.

Among the latest travel companies to receive funding, RedAwning and WanderJaunt are applying aspects of hotel franchising to home renting. Other companies will likely pile onto these experiments.

"Great nations start stoic and die epicurean." Curiosity + Constraints, the Skift formula in the last five years.

FabHotel's franchise model joins peers OYO and Treebo in a promising effort to tame the famously fractured budget segment in India by applying consistent standards of service and marketing.

Dosh says it has 55 people working on letting travelers earn cash back on the money they spend on business trips, while Hoperator has debuted to bring AI tools to hotel chat. Each has promise.

New tech is going to vastly improve the efficiency of booking business trips, selling tours, and running short-term rentals. But it's too soon to know if these three freshly funded companies, in particular, will pull off the trick.

Investors used to be skittish about hospitality-tech startups. But this week's multi-million dollar investment rounds in Keypr, Pillow, and Cloudbeds suggest that the lodging software sector is maturing and isn't just about hotels anymore.

Private equity aims to scale up an Indian agency with a core business traveler clientele, while two rival subscription airlines combine, and a clone of Airbnb for gay travelers receives funding. Clearly, some investors favor companies that focus on niches.

About 32 million people attend at least one festival in the U.S. each year, traveling an average of 900 miles to attend one. Everfest has a promising model to profit off this trade by offering exclusive discounts and creating a festival recommendation engine.