Startups

It's not clear there's enough market demand for a mobile app that books only independent and boutique properties. But some hoteliers might welcome the new app One Night if it can bring down its distribution costs, even marginally.

Analyzing startups helps us understand what the future of travel holds. The latest generation of startups promises innovation across many facets of travel: hospitality, tours, airlines, business travel, and more.

Pickyourtrail has received funding to expand its online services for booking international vacations; its operation is strikingly sophisticated for a small startup. Plus, investors also recently announced bets on smart hotels, urban lounges, and storage places for luggage.

Three interesting companies announced investments this week: Virtuo, a car rental service, aims to replace service counters with mobile-first customer service. May Mobility builds autonomous vehicles for smart cities. NuStay offers hotel price-comparison.

The market for long-term business lodging is being dragged, thankfully, into the digital era by companies like 2nd Address. Plus, fundraising news for Festicket, Oaky, and Operto.

Travel Tripper is taking on a distressed asset, Pegasus. Meh. But what's interesting is that Accel-KKR is backing the deal. The support by the private equity firm is yet another sign of more rollups of hotel tech companies to come against a backdrop of hotel software investments by Amadeus, Sabre, and Shiji.

Oyo has a seductive model of renovating budget hotels, running them efficiently through technology, and marketing them directly to consumers. But the startup risks imperial overreach by entering markets like the U.S. that differ significantly from its core markets in India and China.

AutoCamp has built an outdoor brand on offering bookings for glamping, or camping in amenity-filled recreational vehicles and luxury vans. Given a new $115 million investment, it will expand across the U.S. Read on for other funding news, too, from Intelity, Zingle, Recharge, and LuggageHero.

Feeling pigeonholed, the expense-tracking company is betting big on the Super Bowl to break free.

Switchfly, a travel tech firm specializing in loyalty and e-commerce upselling, has been taken over by private equity firms Golub Capital and L Capital.