As the countdown for second Startup Knockdown commences, the finalists gear up to pitch their disruptive start-up ideas in front of our judges.We are hosting this session in Delhi at FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and the winning start-up will be backed by Amadeus Next, an Amadeus initiative that will help the start-up reach its potential while offering technology, reach and funding. The whole idea is to bring these innovators together to provide them with a bundle of opportunities in terms of media recognition, networking and potential investor access.The panel that will be judging the entries include:

Sunny Jindal: Co-Founder at Iffort and TravHQ

Sunny Jindal is the Director and Co-Founder at Iffort and TravHQ. Iffort is a full-spectrum digital and social media agency based out of New Delhi, India. TravHQ is an online media portal that offers information, news, insights and reviews about the travel industry, focussing primarily on the intersection of technology, digital marketing and start-ups across SEA/APAC region. Sunny holds a Masters degree from Northampton University, and his vision helps in executing the project deliveries at Iffort and TravHQ with a process-oriented methodology. He is an avid traveller and loves exploring offbeat destinations when he’s not working. His love for travel has taken him to South-East Asia, Europe and many places across India. He’s a techno-traveller and believes that technology can add tremendous value to his experience.

Bart Bellers: Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific

Bart is an experienced business executive and passionate out-of-the-box thinker who has successfully led commercial and innovation initiatives at the leading edge of technology. His credo is: “Think Different” and “Just Do It”. Bart is Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy at Amadeus Asia Pacific and his role are to lead new business opportunities and seed innovative initiatives in the region. He has been with Amadeus for over 12 years and held management positions in e-Travel, Customer Delivery, Business Development & Innovation. Prior to Amadeus, Bart built up a strong digital, technology and commercial background in the ICT industry and has worked for several start-ups focusing on the development of e-business solutions.

Aayush Jain: Principal at Unicorn India Ventures

Aayush Jain, a Principal at Unicorn India Ventures comes with over 7 years of experience in corporate and product strategy, capital raise, business/corporate development and M&As across sectors including technology, media, cloud, digital, consumer and education. Aayush heads Unicorn’s Delhi operations and is always eager to partner with, mentor and motivate energetic and smart entrepreneurs who trust in technology as a means to disrupt various sectors. Prior to this, Aayush was Head of Corporate Strategy and M&A at Essel Shyam, India’s largest technology-led managed services provider to the broadcasting industry. He was instrumental in expanding company’s broadcasting operations to Southeast Asia and in launching a cloud-based digital distribution product platform for the company. Apart from this, he’s an avid traveller and enjoys playing golf in free time.

Abhishek Vaish: Founder, Nucleus Partners-Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firm

Abhishek has over eleven years of rich experience in managing fund raisings, IPOs, and Mergers & Acquisitions in India, UK, and Europe. He is currently an entrepreneur and is further helping other fellow entrepreneurs in achieving business growth by raising capital or through Mergers & Acquisitions. He has been an advisor to quite a few travel start-ups in India as well. He is a chartered accountant and a commerce graduate from Delhi University. He has previously worked with Goldman Sachs, both as an Investment Banker and a Private Equity Investor for over five years, and worked across various sectors around the world. He has worked on transactions worth over USD 1.25 trillion so far.

Ashish Kumar: Managing Partner at Agnitio Consultancy LLP

Ashish Kumar is a travel and hospitality veteran with over 37 years of experience in the travel sector. Ashish is the Managing Partner of Agnitio Consulting LLP which provides an end to end advisory cum operational implementation support in a partnering approach to organizations. Ashish is a pioneer in driving both revenue side enhancements and cost optimizations in companies delivering sustainable value. He is the driving force in the travel industry in a big way as well. He conceptualized and led the implementation of the technology in a large number of companies such as International Travel House and understood how technology should work to deliver business value. He advises many travel companies in a strategic capacity as well.

Travel startups can find details about the competing start-ups of Startup Knockdown in Delhi here. You can write to us at editor@travhq.com for more details.

The post Introducing the judge panel of second Startup Knockdown in Delhi appeared first on TravHQ.

The entire travel industry is looking at Asia-Pacific for growth opportunities. With the fast growing number of travellers, innovative startups are coming up with products catering to them. These local startups often have better understanding of the market when compared to bigger players but they lack the technology and reach that the global travel brands have. That is why Amadeus, the leading provider of technology solutions for the travel industry, started Amadeus Next. Through Amadeus Next, they are working with travel startups to evolve new ideas and help them grow.

Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific

We spoke with Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific to learn more about Amadeus Next. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

What was the objective behind Amadeus Next?

Our vision is to build and foster the travel tech startup community in Asia Pacific. From the very beginning it has been important to us that Amadeus Next is not just another corporate incubator or accelerator. We want to bring something to the industry that is long-term and really valuable to all those involved.

Especially today, we observe that the travel industry is broader than ever before and that traveller touchpoints continue to grow. What does that mean for travel tech players? The answer is that no one player in the industry can do it all alone and collaboration is key.

With Amadeus Next we do exactly that, we collaborate. We work together with startups to evolve new and original ideas in travel by leveraging our technology, expertise, reach and funding. Amadeus Next also serves as a driving force to build and foster a community of like-minded partners and people who are excited about travel technology, and are looking to challenge the status quo.

What do the startups stand to gain by associating with Amadeus Next?

We take startups to the next level by supporting them across four areas. Firstly, it is about providing access to technology and solutions that allow startups to build their Minimum Viable Product. Secondly, startups can learn from Amadeus experts and leverage our decades of experience in travel technology, as well as receive mentoring and guidance to navigate their way to success. Thirdly, Amadeus helps startups expand their reach by connecting them to the right network to validate new ideas and business models, with our unrivalled customer base and industry partners. And last, but not least, being able to obtain funding will always play a pivotal role for startups. Amadeus can introduce startups to investors and venture capital around the world to help them grow into leading companies.

Why the focus on APAC?

According to a study by Technavio Research, the global travel technology market is forecast to grow by 14.2% over the course of the next four years, to $12.21 billion. Asia Pacific is a region that is seeing tremendous growth and experiencing a travel boom with the rise of a more affluent middle class, and lower cost of travel.

At the same time, we saw there was a lack of startups in the region really focused on travel technology, and we see this as a huge pocket of opportunity. So we wanted to support these new ventures, entrepreneurs and startups, helping Asia Pacific to become one of the top regions for travel tech innovation. Through Amadeus Next, we can bring our leading position, our technology and our industry knowledge to offer something really valuable to the Asia Pacific travel tech startup scene.

How do you plan to reach out to more startups in the emerging markets?

Since we officially launched back in November, we’ve already seen a strong pipeline of companies getting in touch with us and we’re in discussion with new partners, associations and startups on a daily basis.

Through partnerships with local organisations, communities and some of the large tech events across the region, we aim to continue building the network across Asia Pacific, lending a different perspective and driving a positive outcome for the travel ecosystem.

To date, 9 travel technology start-ups are already part of Amadeus Next, including Triphobo, Klook, Crayondata, Orahi, Triposo, TopDocs, TripVerse StayAngel and Dozo! We’re open to all things travel tech: from carpooling to tours, from travel planning to personalisation, and even the Internet of Things.

In addition to the startups we work with, we also have many other partners on board, such as yourselves (TravHQ), Techstars, TLABS, JungleVentures, CyberAgent, Echelon, 500 Tuk Tuks as well as with startup organisations like Techsauce and Startup Thailand.

Going forward, what more can we expect from Amadeus Next?

Moving forward, we want to establish Amadeus as a frontrunner in the travel tech startup landscape and for Amadeus Next to be the go-to place for startups and partners in Asia Pacific. A year from now, we would like startups to recognise Amadeus as a key player in the startup space that has truly shaped the future of travel through Amadeus Next.

Having said that, we ourselves are working like a startup, taking a lean approach to how we do things and constantly evolving, iterating and growing Amadeus Next together with our startups and partners when we see new opportunities arise.

TravHQ in association with Amadeus and FICCI is hosting the Startup Knockdown Delhi. The event will offer travel startups an opportunity to showcase their idea in front of decision makers from travel industry and be a part of Amadeus Next. Startups can send their pitch deck at editor@travhq.com.

The post Exclusive: Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus APAC talks about Amadeus Next appeared first on TravHQ.

With new technologies and innovative startups coming up in travel, we are beginning to see new trends emerge rapidly in the Industry. Singapore has been at the forefront of such innovations and is setting an example of its neighbors including India. To explore such trends in Asia, Singapore Tourism Board brought ‘The Singapore Dialogue- Innovation in Travel’ to India with TiE (Delhi Chapter). The summit brought together representatives from global travel brands, innovative travel startups and industry analysts.

Deep Kalra, CEO, Makemytrip with Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor – Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific

Deep Kalra, Founder & CEO, Makemytrip and Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor- Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific discussed about the new trends that we will see in India and rest of the Asia. Here are the 5 major ones that will define the travel industry in future.

#1. Sharing economy

“We have an unused room in our house. We can rent it through Airbnb and make some extra money” isn’t something you commonly hear in India. According to Deep Kalra, there is a general opinion around peer to peer services that they can’t work in India, but we will be surprised with their growth in future. There will be a surge in number of people who sublet their house to travellers through platforms like Airbnb or lend their cars using something like Getaround to others when it is unused. We have already seen Guesthouser implementing a similar model in India and we will see more such platforms grow big in future.

#2. Mobile first approach

Businesses are going app only not just because it has become a fashion these days. When it comes to the Indian e-commerce industry, we have entirely skipped the desktop generation and jumped straight to mobile phones. Going mobile only is a smart thing to do for many businesses. Location based services like Uber and last minute services like HotelTonight are not suited to desktops. Going forward, we will see more businesses being built around mobile.

The buying power of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is strong and vernacular will help brands connect with them in a better way. According to Deep Kalra, people who build products for these cities in their native language will probably end up doing really well.

#3. Augmented reality/ Virtual reality

With almost all the major technology companies working on virtual reality and augmented reality, it won’t be long before it becomes mainstream. While taking a virtual tour on Oculus Rift might not be as good as taking the actual tour, it is a new experience in itself. People can choose to virtually experience the activity before they actually go for it. Google with its Jump project is trying to make virtual reality really affordable and also available for educational purposes. Augmented reality will make a part of navigations systems and virtual tour guides. We will see more innovations in this space going forward.

(Read: Jump!!! Google is taking you on a tour)

#4. Wearables

Apple Watch is surely a cool thing to own right now but it hardly has any strong use case at the moment. Brands are coming up with apps for the quirky gadget and trying to add to its significance but these are still the early days for wearables. We will see an entire ecosystem being developed around wearables and then they will play a much bigger role. They will be used for paying for transactions, navigating at airports, checking flights, unlocking rooms, checking into hotels and lot more. Many new companies will enter the scene catering to the travel industry with wearables.

(Read: Why your travel brand shouldn’t join the wearable race)

#5. Predictive modelling

Since travel is a tech driven industry, we hear the term ‘big data’ all the time. It is just heaps of data collected over time which has been processed to make sense of. Companies will use the data to forecast trends like flight prices, ticket availability and hotel prices. Brands in US are already doing this and now we have the technology and data to do something similar. We recently saw ixigo leverage the data collected over the years to develop PNR predictor which gives a pretty good idea if a waitlisted train ticket will be confirmed or not. More brands will come up with similar innovations to associate with their products and boost customer experience.

We will be publishing more stories and interviews from The Singapore Dialogue in the coming days. You can find them along with the past events under the Events section on our website.

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