Global Startup Heat Map highlights 10 Travel Startups to Watch in 2023
Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 3 790 000+ startups & scaleups globally, we identified 3 845 Travel startups. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the 10 travel startups you should watch in 2023 as well as the geo-distribution of all 3 845 startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Based on the heat map, we see high startup activity in the US and India, followed by Europe. These 10 hand-picked startups work on solutions ranging from AI-powered travel assistants and carbon-compensated travel to luggage locker networks and location-sharing apps.
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10 Top Travel Startups to Watch in 2023
- Tousifair – AI Travel Assistant
- Neolight.ai – AI-based Guest Management
- ExpeditionsPro – Virtual Reality (VR) Tour Platform
- Imvizar – Augmented Reality (AR) Tourism Platform
- SQUAKE – Carbon Compensated Travel
- Travel Neutral – Environmentally Conscious Travel
- Lugbee – Luggage Locker Network
- IONAGE – Unified Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Management
- Ok Away – Location Sharing Application
- ZIM Connections – eSIM Marketplace
Tousifair develops an AI Travel Assistant
Tourisfair is a german startup that makes Pandi, an AI-driven travel assistant. It matches travelers with tourism activities based on their expectations and constraints. The assistant filters out unavailable activities and also ensures the availability of all recommended activities for the trip duration. This eliminates the need for extensive research, saving time for travelers. Moreover, Pandi allows travelers to modify their plans, add or remove activities, and change their itinerary at any time. This way, Tourisfair connects travelers with personalized experiences tailored to their interests, budget, and schedule.
ExpeditionsPro offers a Virtual Reality (VR) Tour Platform
Australian startup ExpeditionsPro offers a VR tour maker platform. It allows travelers to access a large collection of pre-existing 360-degree photo and video content. The startup also enables users to create and share immersive VR tours using their own content or existing tours from the Google Expeditions platform. The platform is compatible with Google Cardboard, tablets, and PCs, making it accessible to users with low-spec hardware. With its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface, ExpeditionsPro’s platform enables users to create their own 360-degree tours and share them with travelers around the globe.
Imvizar provides an Augmented Reality (AR) Tourism Platform
Imvizar is an Irish startup that develops an AR tourism platform. It enables users to create, upload and stream AR experiences for cultural and tourism purposes. Travelers use the startup’s companion smartphone app to access a variety of AR experiences. This enhances their visits to attractions, towns, and cities around the world. Imvizar also utilizes 3D scanning, photogrammetry, and spatial audio to create realistic and immersive AR content. Further, the startup allows users to share their own AR experiences with other users. Thus, Imvizar provides a new way for users to learn about different cultures and explore new places.
SQUAKE enables Carbon Compensated Travel
German startup SQUAKE develops an application programming interface (API) plug-in for carbon-compensated travel. It provides accurate carbon calculations and compensations for various forms of travel and transport activities, such as flights, car rides, hotel stays, and more. Its representational state transfer (REST) API enables travel and transport companies to calculate and compensate for their carbon emissions according to national and international standards. This helps companies achieve their sustainability goals by offering sustainable travel alternatives like replacing fossil jet fuel with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The API also integrates precise carbon calculations and compensation into travel booking flows, offering customers green choices, and reducing environmental impact.
Neolight.ai delivers AI-based Guest Management
Croatian startup Neolight.ai offers an AI-based guest management platform. It enables hotel operators and travel agencies to collect and analyze guest preferences and behavior data. The platform also allows them to communicate with travelers via chatbots on instant messaging platforms. Further, it manages reservations, check-ins, check-outs, and housekeeping in a single dashboard. To provide travel recommendations, the platform leverages natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). The platform offers an efficient solution for the travel and hospitality industries to ensure personalized experiences for their guests while optimizing operations and marketing efforts.
Travel Neutral empowers Environmentally Conscious Travel
Travel Neutral is a French startup that offers all-inclusive travel packages to minimize carbon emissions. It provides low-carbon vacations that are respectful of people, nature, and tradition. The startup does this by providing low-carbon transportation options, such as trains or electric vehicles (EVs), and eco-friendly accommodation choices, like solar-powered hotels or campsites. The startup also calculates and offsets the remaining carbon footprint of each trip by investing in verified environmental projects. This way, Travel Neutral allows travelers to discover new destinations without compromising on sustainability.
Lugbee builds a Luggage Locker Network
Indian startup Lugbee provides an online platform for travelers to find and book secure luggage locker options. It connects travelers with nearby cloakrooms that are available 24/7 and allows them to pay only for the hours they need. After storage, the startup seals the luggage with tamper-proof seals to ensure the safety of each bag. It also verifies and validates the stores that offer luggage storage, and offers 24/7 customer service. This way, Lugbee solves the problem of finding a reliable place to store luggage during travel excursions.
IONAGE provides Unified EV Charging Management
IONAGE is an Indian startup that offers a unified EV charging platform and charger networks. The startup’s app allows travelers to discover charging stations near them or along their route. It also enables them to plan their trip based on vehicle range and battery status. The platform enables them to charge their vehicles seamlessly with a unified payment system. Additionally, IONAGE has an intelligent trip planner that shows if an EV trip is possible with the range of the user’s vehicle. It provides details such as distance, time, cost, and battery status. IONAGE thus provides reliable and convenient access to charging infrastructure for travelers who use EVs.
OK Away makes a Location Sharing App
Australian startup Ok Away makes a location-sharing mobile app. It enables travelers to view each other’s mapped locations, addresses, local times, and phone battery levels on their devices. They also receive smart notifications for arrivals, departures, inactivity, and emergency events. Additionally, the startup promotes a missing pages initiative. It runs awareness campaigns for travelers missing worldwide using social media paid advertising. This way, OK Away enhances the safety and connectivity of travelers.
ZIM Connections builds an eSIM Marketplace
ZIM Connections is a UK-based startup that offers an eSIM marketplace for travelers who need a data connection when they arrive at a new destination. It allows users to choose from different providers, purchase a plan, and activate their new eSIM. Available in over 120 countries, it eliminates the hassle of swapping physical SIM cards and losing data coverage. Thus, ZIM Connections’ eSIM marketplace provides travelers with an easy and quick way to connect anywhere at any time.
Discover All Emerging Travel Startups
The travel startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free Travel Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies & emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2023!
