Five business travel start-ups have been unveiled as finalists in this year’s Business Travel Disrupt Award. The final will take place at the Business Travel Show at 4pm, Wednesday 22 February.
The finalists, which were shortlisted from the event’s 14 Launchpad exhibitors, are DataSyrup, FairFly, ReboundTAG, Transporters.io and Tripcloud.io. They were chosen during a three-week online vote, which was open to the public and received over 1,000 nominations. The five will present to a panel of esteemed judges in a Dragons’ Den style pitch to battle it out for this year’s crown and a stand at next year’s Business Travel Show worth £8,000. The finalists are:
DataSyrup
The team is made up of data scientists, visualisation experts, market researchers, programmers and communicators with a common passion for getting the most out of data and helping organisations of all sizes to do the same. http://datasyrup.net/
FairFly
A travel technology company that maximises savings on business airfare post-booking. FairFly’s proprietary algorithms support all types of tickets globally, and search for identical, similar, and better flight options taking corporate travel policies and preferences, as well as airline cancellation fees, into account. FairFly’s automated rebooking solution allows for savings opportunities to be taken advantage of around the clock without any manual work involved. http://www.fairfly.com
ReboundTAG
ReboundTAG is the most advanced luggage tag available, using radio frequency identification microchips, NFC, barcode and printed number, and exclusive integrations with global baggage handling systems. http://www.reboundtag.com
Transporters.io
Launched in 2016, Transporters.io is working to solve the everyday troubles that transport providers must deal with and help their businesses run more efficiently and profitably. Transporters.io Ground Edition was officially released in April 2016, with customers already using it to manage their daily operations. https://transporters.io
TripCloud
An online travel-desk application for small and mid-sized businesses with no contracts or expensive monthly fees. Customers get everything they need to effectively plan, book and manage travel for their company in one place. http://tripcloud.io/
The Business Travel Show increased its investment in innovation this year: 14 as opposed to eight start-ups will exhibit for free in the Launchpad next week. They include the Disrupt finalists plus AirWander, Business TripBuddy, FLIO, Meetings Benchmark, My Webspot, Provide Apartments, Travelhorst, TRIPBAM and Where for Business.
The show’s organisers have also invested in new technology called Poken to further boost networking opportunities for buyers. All buyers – and media – visiting Business Travel Show next week will receive a Poken: a hand-shaped USB attached to their lanyard that allows them to swap business cards digitally with suppliers, speakers and other buyers simply by tapping the hands together. Where they see Poken Collect boards they can also download information straight to their USB ready to be uploaded to their PC when they get back to the office.
Sam Cande, group commercial director, Business Travel Show, added: “The number of innovative start-ups out there trying to break into this industry is inspiring and makes me feel excited about the possibilities they present for the future of business travel. This was only our second year of hosting both Launchpad and the Disrupt Award and we’ve been overwhelmed with the response. We had over 40 applications for this year’s Launchpad and over 1,000 votes to whittle those exhibitors down to our five Disrupt finalists. They are all highly creative companies and I wish them all good luck for next week.”
