“Travelling’’ implies connecting people from different countries, diverse regions and varied landforms. Considering the fringe benefits of travelling and tourism, Indian entrepreneurs are devising innovative startup ideas in the travel space. The old guard in the travel fraternity is steadily sweeping up the startup ecosystem and new entrants are coming in to assist travel startups. Pre-seed investments have increased and more and more organizations are catering to travel tech startups.
The travel startup sector in India looks promising with several startups like OYO Rooms, ZO Rooms and Ixigo serving as a marketplace for hotels, activities, air fares, cabs, train tickets and getting the support from Sequoia Capital, Amadeus and SAIF partners. Opportunities galore in the Travel startup space with companies pushing new capital into the ecosystem by launching a new incubator, accelerator or a venture fund. However, there are many challenges. The corporate innovation strategies are exacting and require sufficient time for development. In the current scenario, it is easier to get funded in earlier rounds than subsequent rounds primarily because scaling becomes a major challenge in later stages.
So, what is in vogue in the travel startup scene? Are internet and smartphone penetration prompting startups to plunge into the sector? What are the prominent business models in this sector? How’s the funding scene in this sector ?
Be a part of the March edition of Startup Saturday to find out the answers and much more!!
Rashmi Chadha
Speaker
Founder : Wovoyage
A totally hands-on CEO, Rashmi’s methods of growing her business include being on the ground and pounding the pavement. Her travel startup provides girl guides to solo women travellers. These girls are recruited through an internship programme that she runs with language schools. Rashmi also recruits young boys and girls from unfortunate circumstances. She trains them and they, in turn, are a big asset for her.
Shweta Modi
Speaker
Director : Goibibo
Shweta Modi, a Quality Management post graduate with 16+ years of experience in areas of Quality, Process Improvements and Business excellence, is passionate about improving travel experience for customers. In her current job at Goibibo, she leads and supports building Conversational AI platform (Chat bot) that solves customer’s pre and post booking and make their experience faster and reliable.
Deepak Bansal
Speaker
Co-Founder : Travographer
Co-founder, Deepak Bansal has turned Travographer into one of the world's fastest growing visual content provider in travel space. With over 25 million images and videos taken by over 10,000 photographers across 50 countries, his company is working with clients like MMT, Yatra, Cox & Kings, OYO, Sterling Resorts, Taj Hotels and a lot more.