Another iteration of Startup Knockdown was successfully concluded over the weekend and just like the past events, the Kolkata event received amazing response from all those who were a part of it. This time Startup Knockdown was hosted as a part of TTF Kolkata. The event brought together experts from the industry and some really interesting travel startups from the region. After listening through all the pitches and filtering through the finer details, the judges picked Airlines Technology and Izifiso to be the winners of the event.

Varun and Paras from Airlines Technology team collecting the award from Shivam Shah, Partner at Augment Ventures

Airlines Technology, a tech startup eyeing the global airline industry and holding huge growth potential, got the interest of judges. IATA introduced NDC to simplify how airline tickets are bought and to increase the value for airline equity investors. It can allow for a more transparent shopping experience where the customers will be able to customise their bookings quickly and airlines will be able to push suitable offers directly to the customer. Airlines Technology is focussed on NDC implementation and aggregation. Amadeus has offered them the opportunity to be a part of Amadeus Next.

Gopal, founder of Izifiso, collecting the award from Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman, Fairfest Media Ltd

Izifiso, with its fresh idea and the promise of bringing education out of the books, was voted for by many of the judges. Izifizo is a platform that allows students and educational institutions to connect with domain experts for educational tours. During the pitch, Izifiso founder Gopal shared that there are many individuals with strong knowledge in certain domains and they often organise small scale tours to share the knowledge. People come to know about these tours either by word of mouth or by social media platforms like Facebook. However this limits the reach as often, these methods won’t allow reaching beyond the extended network of the organiser. Izifizo tries to address this by working with the organisers and offering them a platform that would give them wider reach with the right audience.

Highlights of Startup Knockdown Kolkata

That wasn’t all. Saumyajit Guha not only shared insights on the investment scenario in India but also invited two startups, Izifiso and Tramily for an elevated pitch session with Calcutta Angels Network. Ravi Ranjan from NASSCOM expressed interest in Izifiso.

The response we received from the startups as well as the audience was highly encouraging. The participants discussed the finer details of their businesses during one-on-one conversations with the judges and everyone had something to take back from the event. We would also like to thank our partners again for supporting the event. The team is now gearing up for the Hyderabad event which is scheduled for the coming Saturday (July 16, 2016). Entries close soon. For details on all the upcoming events, visit startupknockdown.travhq.com.

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StartupKnckdown+’s Kolkata session is on our doorsteps. The stage is set. We bring this sequel of StartupKnockdown in association with TTF, India’s largest tourism trade fair. This new level of battle provides an opportunity to companies at various stages of development, be it an early stage venture or an emerging travel start-up or an innovative product by a recognised enterprise. The shortlisted start-ups will present themselves before the judging panel on 9 July from 3pm-5pm at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata. A plethora of opportunities lies for the winning start-up. Read here for more information.

These are the start-ups that made it to the finalists. Let’s have a quick look.

Izifiso

This start-up primarily works on bringing the educational experience out of the books. This group believes in out-of-the-box learning, literally. They organise interesting tours and workshops that enable the students to learn better. Their services include blogging activities, workshops, educational trips and various competitions.

iManagemyHotel

People at iManagemyHotel offer cloud-based property management solution for a small and mid-sized hotel. They provide a centralised reservation system for hotels, online booking engine, restaurant and point of sale management system, front desk management system, Online Booking Engine, Channel Manager, Stock, Inventory management and many more features. Hotels would be able to keep track of bookings, staff timings, travel agent commissions, room tariff, and accounts.

Tramily

Tramily works on a wider B2B marketplace for travel agents and hoteliers in India. It provides a common place for these businesses to come together so as to promote, provide, and purchase deals. Besides this, the app also provides networking opportunity to travel agents and hoteliers on a real-time basis by offering a comprehensive option to negotiate business through chat and call option.

India Outtabox

India Outtabox importantly focuses on customised itinerary planning for tourists visiting India. The USP of the product is that the itinerary planned for them captures the essence of India. It provides tailor-made experiences for people visiting India with personalised plans on their to-do list or makes them stay as a guest for an Indian family and make their stay memorable in every way.

Airlines Technology

In a bid to change how airline tickets are bought, Airlines Technology is challenging the existing GDS industry. NDC was introduced by IATA to enhance the capability of communication between airlines and agents. AT is trying to offer more transparent travel shopping experience to customers leveraging NDC and taking a step towards increasing the value in the airline industry.

Register here Travel StartupKnockdown+ for the upcoming Hyderabad session on 15-17 July .

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We are coming back with Startup Knockdown and this time it is going to be bigger than ever. The Startup Knockdown+ will put more opportunities on the table for participating startups. The previous events successfully put promising startups like FXKart and Confirmtkt in the spotlight and gave many others the chance to get inputs from industry experts to fine tune their product and gain new opportunities. The panel of judges included leaders from brands like Google, Amadeus, Cox & Kings, Unicorn India Ventures and more.

This time, not only will the expert panel judge the pitching startups but also engage with them before the event during multiple workshops. Introducing the judges and mentors for the upcoming event:

Saumyajit Guha, Calcutta Angels Network

Saumyajit has 15 years of experience with proficiency in Business Incubation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development, Market Research & Analysis, Process Migration, Operations and Business Analysis. He has worked with Startup Incubator at IIT Kharagpur as Head, Business Development. He has also worked IIM Calcutta and was instrumental in establishing a DST approved incubator- IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. He has also worked in other roles as IT Project Campaign Manager and as Business Analyst. Currently he leads Calcutta Angels Network, an angel investment network in Kolkata, as the COO.

Ravi Ranjan, Startup Warehouse Kolkata- 10000 Startups

Ravi manages Startup Warehouse Kolkata which is a part of 10000 startups, an initiative by NASSCOM. The program is supported by Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Amazon & Kotak Bank He has an experience of over a decade spanning diverse sectors and he has helped many professionals and students start their entrepreneurial journey. He started his journey as a media professional, heading to events industry and then eventually getting into the startup ecosystem of India. Before NASSCOM, he was a part of Cross Border Angels, Indian Angel Network and Ennovent.

Bart Bellers, 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.

Subhrangshu Sanyal, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park

Subhrangshu is a passionate startup evangelist and is the CEO of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park where is he working on creating a comprehensive ecosystem to fuel innovation and promote entrepreneurship. He carries rich experience in process and systems consulting in banking and financial services domain. He was also involved in end to end implementation of several large strategic projects for global organisations and also had a stint with a tech startup.

Shivam Shah, Augment Ventures

Shivam Shah is a partner at Augment Ventures. A fund that invests in early stage start-ups. He is also the co-founder and CEO of www.CaptainKYSO.com, an e-commerce apparel venture, that sells wearable art, and co-founder of www.cremecup.in, India’s first, Online Bakery. Completing his masters in finance, from Simon School of Business, Shivam turned down a lucrative job offer in M&A at an MNC to come back to India, to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.

Vikram Duggal, Unitus Seed Fund

Vikram represents the US based Unitus Seed Fund and works with startups as an Investor, Mentor and Advisor to help them achieve ambitious growth plans. He comes with over 17 years of experience heading sales & marketing functions for major brands across different verticals like Retail, Media, Durables, IT and Banking. He has been instrumental in successfully launching t2, revamping Turtle (menswear), marketing launches of radio stations, implementing large scale on ground activations and scaling up operations of young businesses. He is also a guest faculty at various B-schools across India.

Hari Balasubramanian, IAN, IvyCap Ventures, Sol Primero

Hari is an investor, advisor and mentor and helps entrepreneurs give a surge to their startups. Post his stint as an entrepreneur for over 27 years as founder of Ontrack Systems Limited, he has made angel investments in multiple startups across different domains. He is an advisor to IvyCap Ventures to support entrepreneurs from premier institutions of India and to Sol Primero, an early stage venture fund. He is also a member of Indian Angel Network where he contributes in deal sourcing, due diligence and mentoring of startups. Previously he has also been associated with organisations like TiE, COMPASS, NASSCOM and CIITA.

Are you a travel startup? You can register for the upcoming event at startupknockdown.travhq.com.

Follow the links to check highlights of the previous events: Startup Knockdown Mumbai | Startup Knockdown Delhi

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