Organisers have named the 19 travel tech startups selected for the Finals of the 2025 Global Startup Pitch.
Now in its fourth year, the competition jointly produced by WiT and Phocuswright seeks to discover the brightest stars in early-stage travel tech.
The Global Startup Pitch Competition is supported by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), a Phocuswright Strategic Partner of Innovation.
Previously held in a virtual format, this year the finalists will compete in-person for the first time ever on the Startup Stage at Phocuswright Europe on 10th June.
WiT founder Yeoh Siew Hoon said: “We thank our panel of judges from around the world who’ve put in considerable time and effort to help us select this promising group of finalists. They are as committed as we are to sparking innovation and surfacing new voices in the global community of travel startups.”
Phocuswright managing director Pete Comeau added: “The feedback from judges on our applicants this year has been great. We received an even spread of entries across the four regions and are encouraged by the growing number of entries from new markets which validates that our mission to run a global competition is truly reflecting the global ecosystem of startups.”
An arduous selection process
A panel of external judges selected these startups from a crop of nearly 200 entries received for the global competition to surface the best travel startups across four different regions of the world.
As with previous years, an additional Wildcard category was created by Phocuswright and WiT to surface ideas that are particularly global, future-oriented, hard to solve and address next-generation challenges.
Companies will compete in two categories: seed stage for firms less than three years old who have raised no more than US$5 million; and scaling startups which are firms up to eight years old but have raised no greater than US$10 million.
Seedups will compete against Seedups, and Scaleups against Scaleups for each region, and winners for each region will be chosen during Phocuswright Europe.
Nine winners will be selected who will travel to Singapore for showcase presentations at WiT Singapore in October of this year.
The audience at WiT Singapore will vote on their favorite Seedup and Scaleup, and the People’s Choice winners will be showcased at The Phocuswright Conference in San Diego, CA this November.
Meet the finalists
APAC
- Plandora (Seedup)
- Replyr (Seedup)
- Loyalty Status Co. (Scaleup)
- Zentrum (Scaleup)
Europe
- ImpersonAlly (Seedup)
- SnapIQ (Seedup)
- Arcube (Scaleup)
- Tryp (Scaleup)
North America
- Levee (Seedup)
- Traversing.ai (Seedup)
- Sion (Scaleup)
- PassiveBolt (Scaleup)
Emerging Markets
- Kijani Supplies (Seedup)
- Tuki-Travel (Seedup)
- Buzz (Scaleup)
- Turpal (Scaleup)
Wildcards
- Videreo (Seedup)
- Toraru (Scaleup)
- Me Protocol (Scaleup)
The perks of winning
Winners from the APAC region will receive a complimentary ASEAN Traveller Pass sponsored by AirAsia MOVE, which covers nine countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Additionally, one winner will be chosen at random for a complimentary consulting strategy session with Travel Again Advisory.
The Global Startup Pitch competition is part of an ongoing commitment by Phocuswright and WiT to cultivate innovation through a platform of events and programs including WiT Bootcamps, Phocuswright’s Startup Program, PhocusWire’s Hot25 Travel Startups, and Phocuswright’s Launch pitch competition.
