From an
initial pool of nearly 200 entries, 10 winners have emerged in the finals of
the 2024 Global Startup Pitch by WiT and Phocuswright.
In the
four-hour virtual finals on Thursday, a team of more than 20 judges picked two
winners from each of four regions – Asia Pacific, Emerging Markets, Europe and
North America – and two from the Wildcards category.
The event, sponsored
by JetBlue Ventures since its inception three years ago, included 18 finalists
vying to move to the next round. In a new format for 2024, organizers created two
categories of competition:
- Seedup: Under three years old and which have raised no more than $5 million
- Scaleup: Three to eight years old and which have raised no more than $10 million
The ten winners are:
Asia Pacific
Emerging Markets
Europe
- Trapi (Seedup)
- Hotel Treats (Scaleup)
North America
- Nowadays (Seedup)
- The Host Company (Scaleup)
Wildcards
These 10
winners will travel to Singapore to present at WiT Singapore, October 14-16. The audience at WiT Singapore will
vote on their favorite Seedup and Scaleup and those People’s Choice winners will be showcased at The Phocuswright Conference, November 19-21, in Phoenix and WiT
Seoul, November 26-27, in Seoul.
“Congratulations
to all the winners as well as the 200 startups that applied. It was truly a
global competition, which represented the variety and diversity of the travel
world,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder of WiT. “We are excited to welcome them to
Singapore where our audience will get to vote for their favorites.
“We revised
the format this year, based on lessons learned from the past two years, to have
two winners per region rather than having just one winner for the entire
competition, recognizing that each region is at a different stage of
development. We also created the Seedup and Scaleup categories to give the
smaller, possibly hidden gems a better chance to emerge.”
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Said Pete
Comeau, managing director of Phocuswright, “The Phocuswright/WiT Global Startup
Pitch has once again unveiled the next generation of travel disruptors. Thank
you to all the judges for giving us their time and expertise to help us get to
this point. The travel startup ecosystem is thriving and we eagerly anticipate
seeing how these ideas shape the new age of travel.”
First time
judge Michael Dykes, vice president of market management for Asia Pacific at
Expedia Group, said, “Whether we feel that the idea is viable or not, the real
point is you have amazing young people creating and innovating. An innovative
mind is a precious mind. Keep pushing the boundaries!”
Ross
Veitch, CEO and co-founder, Wego, judging for the Asia Pacific region, added,
“Finalists this year were quite diverse and featured some strong pitches. AI
powered innovation was a refreshing and recurring theme.”
Miriam
Moscovici, vce president of partnerships and research at BCD Travel was one of
the judges for North America.
“This was
one of the most well-prepared group of presenters I've seen in a while and the
diversity of ideas really shows how innovators are attacking travel challenges
from all directions. I think we've seen more than one ‘future big deal’
today,” she said.
And Stephen
Snyder, managing director of operations and partnerships at JetBlue Ventures
and a judge from the beginning of the competition, said he was very impressed
by all the startups he reviewed. “I take my hat off to them for continuing to
innovate.”
The Global
Startup Pitch is part of WiT and Phocuswright’s ongoing commitment to cultivate
innovation, which also includes Phocuswright's Innovation: Launch, Startup Programs, PhocusWire’s
Hot 25 Travel Startups, WiT Bootcamps and more.