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Here is your weekly overview on the top travel innovations, trends and startup news. Read until the end to see the first speaker announcement for the FutureTravel Summit:
- The LA-based startup Jurny brings SaaS to the hotel industry, letting travelers have an “Uber-like” experience, where they get to do everything from an app, saving time and resources for both hotels and guests. Earlier this week, the startup announced that they raised $9.5 million to accelerate their global expansion.
- This story has been untangling over the past months: Oyo filed the paperwork for IPO. The deck is quite dense, with more than 600 pages – but if you are interested in knowing more about it, Skift went through the prospectus and shared the highlights on their website.
- Spanish startup Troop secured €6.8 million to expand their solution to new markets. Their tech tool uses big data to plan meetings and events and help companies find the best location according to their needs. Great timing as business travel increases and remote teams look for the best spots to meet in person.
- UNWTO and Netflix have partnered on the publication of a report which explores how films and series drive tourism and cultural affinity. On their own words: “Culture is an essential vector for tourism and audiovisual contents can serve as a mirror of the culture of a given community. This is the greatest value that Netflix and other streaming platforms can offer by producing and distributing content all over the world: promoting the human side of tourism and bringing people with different cultures together.”
- Starting this week, every time someone looks for a flight in Google Flights, results will also display a carbon emission estimate – both for specific flight and specific seat. This new feature aims to show users the environmental impact of flights, labelling with a green badge those flights with lower emissions.
- Founded in 2017, Smartryde has raised $1.6 million. The Tokyo-based marketplace for airport transfer services currently operates in 700 airports, connecting taxi and other transportation operators to online travel agencies so travelers can book their ground services at the time they book air and hotel.
I am very happy to close this edition by announcing our first speaker for the FutureTravel Summit. From Copenhagen, Nicolas Arroyo will share his insights about the future of travel and what to have in mind when developing business strategies for Generation Z as travelers, unfolding the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. Nicolas is the Director of Foresight & Founding Partner at Bespoke. Stay tuned, . We will keep announcing more speakers in the upcoming editions of this newsletter. Click here to secure your spot for the first FutureTravel Summit, on November 24th (online).