easyJet and Founders Factory grant funding to start-ups

easyJet and Founders Factory have announced the first two travel start-ups selected for their Travel Tech accelerator programme.

In October 2016, easyJet announced a strategic investment into Founders Factory, the corporate backed incubator and accelerator founded by Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox. As part of their partnership, easyJet and Founders Factory will support the growth of five early stage travel tech startups and co-create two new travel businesses within the incubator programme every year, for five years.

The first two startups being announced for the accelerator programme are:

FLIO

The global airport app is designed for frequent travellers. FLIO comes complete with maps, shopping deals, airport tips and departure information to help passengers navigate the airport and make their journey less stressful. Founded by Stephan Uhrenbacher (founder Qype), Brian Collie (ex BAA plc and lastminute.com), Andy Watson (early Spotify), and currently working with 900 airports, FLIO aims to become the single app solution for every airport in the world.

LuckyTrip

Voted by Apple as ‘App Store Best of 2015’ and founded by London brothers Tiff and Alex Burns, LuckyTrip enables the (typically millennial) traveller to simply set their budget and find a unique holiday in just one tap. Each trip gives you somewhere to go and the cheapest flight to get there, somewhere to stay and something to do.

James Millett, Director of Digital & Marketing easyJet, said: “We’re delighted to announce the first companies in our Founders Factory initiative and welcome both FLIO and LuckyTrip into the easyJet portfolio. Both companies have strong mobile first propositions in travel inspiration and airport experience that are already getting real traction with customers, have fantastic initiatives in their pipelines and passionate, talented entrepreneurs at the helm.

“Our five-year commitment to Founders Factory is all about putting disruptive thinking right at the heart of our digital activities to continue making things easier for customers at all stages of their journey with us. We look forward to working with the FLIO and LuckyTrip teams.”