FICCI hosted the Travel & Hospitality Tech Conclave and gave us an amazing platform to host the second edition of Travel Startup Knockdown. Dozens of entries came in and finally yesterday, the eight shortlisted startups competed against each other to take the crown and be a part of Amadeus Next.

L to R: Kunal Jain, Co-Founder, Your Local Cousin and Sripad Vaidya, Co-Founder, Confirmtkt

Our panel of judges included Bart Bellers, Senior Advisor, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus Asia Pacific; Sunny Jindal, Co-Founder, TravHQ & Iffort; Aayush Jain, Principal at Unicorn India Ventures; Abhishek Vaish, Founder, Nucleus Partners and Ashish Kumar, Managing Partner at Agnitio Consultancy LLP. They announced Confirmtkt to be the winner of the 2^nd Travel Startup Knockdown. According to them, it wasn’t an easy decision to make and they were caught up between two after narrowing down from the finalists.

A large number of travellers rely on trains to travel in India and often have to wait till the last minute to find out if they have a confirmed ticket or not. Confirmtkt uses analytics to predict the possibility of a ticket being confirmed and also digs into a mine of data to suggest alternate combinations that can be booked at last minute.

We also invited our audience to vote for the startup that they loved the most and Your Local Cousin came out to be their favourite. While planning a trip, we look up places and experiences online but the data is often scattered and incomplete. We also seek help from our friends and relatives but the problem scales up if they aren’t familiar with the destination. Your Local Cousin allows travellers to connect with expert locals who know the place inside out to help the travellers easily plan their trip, avoid the tourist traps and save all the effort.

Here are some more images from the event:

Confirmtkt will be joining the startups that are already a part of Amadeus Next. You can know more about Amadeus Next here.

We would like to thank FICCI and Amadeus for supporting us in successfully hosting the Travel Startup Knockdown.

The post Confirmtkt and Your Local Cousin emerge as the winners of 2nd Travel Startup Knockdown appeared first on TravHQ.

The very first Travel Startup Knockdown was concluded recently in association with OTM Mumbai, India’s largest travel trade show and the response was phenomenal. We received entries from some really interesting startups that hold great potential. The panel of judges, which featured Siddharth Dabhade, Head of travel business, Google India, Sanjiv Swarup, Venture Capitalist, Sanjiv Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Fairfest Media and Ashish Pai, Corporate Strategy, Cox & Kings, shared the opinion that platforms like Startup Knockdown are a great way to give the innovators an opportunity to reach more audience.

Fxkart, winner of Judges’ Choice Award at Startup Knockdown Mumbai

After comparing the startups that pitched at the event, the judges picked Fxkart as the winner of first Travel Startup Knockdown. The startup addresses one of the biggest hassles travellers face when they are planning to travel internationally i.e. forex. There are vendors that charge huge commissions on your currency and there are vendors that don’t give the impression of authenticity. Fxkart saves you from the trouble of filtering through such vendors and offers you the best exchange rates. On top of that, you can do all that from the comfort of your home and get the currency delivered to your doorstep.

Sharing his experience on the same, Abdul Hadi Shaikh, CEO, Fxkart said, “It gave us a new perspective and also validating our idea in terms of other products in the travel startup space. A lot of times startups assume a lot of things and think they are building something path breaking but unless there is validation from the industry it doesn’t make any sense. For us, winning the StartupKnockdown was a stepping stone and gives us the energy and zeal to keep doing the good work”

Tramily was the second startup that got highlighted. It won the people’s choice award at the event. Travel agents, while putting together the itineraries for their clients, need to get good hotel deals. Tramily allows them to find the best hotel deals to include in the itineraries. They can post their requirements for room nights and hotels can respond with the best deals if they fit the bill. Also the hotels can post their deals and the agents can choose while putting together a package. It is also available through a mobile app.

Tramily, winner of People’s Choice Award at Startup Knockdown Mumbai

There were many other promising startups that pitched at the event. Putting together the plans for a group trip is a tough job and MyTripKarma plans to simplify that by allowing multiple travellers to book together in one place. iManageMyHotel offers centralised property management solutions for hotels so that they don’t have to invest in developing their own such solutions. inTRANSIT is a social platform that enhances your travel experience by adding the option to communicate with fellow passengers at airports. EasyGroupBook simplifies lodging for large events and GoMowgli takes more control over activities and experiences to offer a consistent travel experience.

Here are some more images from the event:

We will be hosting the second edition of Travel Startup Knockdown next month and are inviting applications from early stage travel startups for the same. You can find more details about the event here.

The post Highlights of the first Travel Startup Knockdown appeared first on TravHQ.

The very first Travel Startup Knockdown was concluded successfully last evening during TechForum@OTM. The shortlisted startups presented their pitch during the event in front of our panel of judges which featured Siddharth Dabhade, Head of travel business, Google India, Sanjiv Swarup, Venture Capitalist, Sanjiv Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Fairfest Media and Ashish Pai, Corporate Strategy, Cox & Kings.

Fxkart emerged to be the judges’ choice at the event. Fxkart allows travellers to get foreign exchange without any hassles. As there are multiple dealers competing against each other, the travellers get best exchange rates they might not find directly in many cases. On top of that, they can get the forex at their doorstep.

Tramily won the people’s choice award at Startup Knockdown. It is a marketplace for travel agents and hoteliers. Agents can post their requirements and hoteliers can respond with a deal or hoteliers can post deals and agents can look them up. It tries to increase the personal connection of the agents and hoteliers which they can leverage to each other’s advantage.

Congratulations to the winners. Join us today at OTM Mumbai at 1300 hours for panel discussion on ‘Leveraging online influencer relationships in travel & tourism’.

The post Fxkart and Tramily emerge as winners at the first Travel StartupKnockdown in OTM, Mumbai appeared first on TravHQ.