Seedstars World 2015

Travel Massive is teaming up with Seedstars to help connect our talented community of innovators and entrepreneurs around the world with the 3rd annual Seedstars World Competition. The competition is a chance for upcoming travel startups to take their big ideas to the next level.

To learn more, we invited Alisée de Tonnac, CEO and co-Founder of Seedstars World to give us a glimpse into what we can expect and how big ideas can become reality.

What is Seedstars World? 

Seedstars World is an international startup competition focused on emerging markets and fast growing startup scenes. The mission is to promote, connect and invest in startups and entrepreneurs from all over the world. The Seedstars World competition gives them a chance to showcase what they’re doing and win up to USD 500K in equity investment.

More importantly, it allows them to join a huge community of investors, accelerators, and entrepreneurs who are connected and can help share information, networks and best practices between themselves.

What inspired you to create this initiative?

At that time I was working for a corporate company and really wanted to find the next big challenge/opportunity. I met Pierre-Alain Masson, co-founder of Seedstars who talked about his vision to build a truly international network of entrepreneurs who were doing great things on other corners of the globe. We understood that entrepreneurship is one of the main drivers for a sustainable economy by creating value and opportunities – when you look at statistics, it’s small and medium size enterprises, and startups that drive the most job creations.

Seedstars has been hosting the competition for 3 years now. Why should travel startups get involved this year?

For this third edition, we wanted to create more industry-specific tracks to increase the value for startups and offer them more opportunities. This is why we decided to create Investment Tracks, one of them being Travel. In addition to the USD 500K investment prize for the Seedstars World Global Winner, Seedstars World has launched a partnership with lastminute.com group, the European leader in the online travel and leisure industry. With the rise of new technological trends like mobile technology and social media networks, startups must move quickly to satisfy the clients’ needs. lastminute.com group supports this change and wants to bolster innovation by investing in the best travel startups.

During its world tour, Seedstars World will seek to source the best travel startups and expand the opportunities for the companies providing innovative B2B and B2C solutions for the travel industry. Eight of the best travel startups selected to pitch at Seedstars World local events will be invited to the Final Event in Switzerland to compete for up to USD 500K investment from lastminute.com group and leverage the group’s invaluable know-how.

How does it work?

From May to December 2015, Seedstars World is travelling to 55 countries to hold startup-pitching events in collaboration with key players in the local startup ecosystems. At each event an experienced regional judging panel selects one startup to attend the final of the competition that will be held on the first week of March 2016 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 55 startups selected for the acclaimed final event spend one week in Lausanne to receive coaching, undergo due diligence and attend the global innovation conference to showcase their business.

Travel Massive is about empowering change in travel. How does your initiative create change or empower others?

At Seedstars World it is about empowering change in the way we see emerging markets. What if there was another side to countries like Nigeria, Colombia and The Philippines? These countries have unbelievable talent and entrepreneurs waiting to be seen. They are people and places we normally don’t view as potential for opportunities or business investment.

Which Seedstar World winners still stand out today and are making big leaps in travel?

We are still looking for those big standouts in terms of disruption in the travel sector but several successful examples are HotelQuickly which promotes spontaneous travel. It surfs on the wave of last minute city trips which is a big trend in travel. Triip.me provides a personalised travel experience with locals (they were the winner of SSW Ho Chi Minh 2014) and Grata is a customer service concierge (selected startup in SSW Beijing 2013).

There are also startups simplifying the booking system for all types of transportations from Busportal (winner SSW Lima 2014) to Jayride (winner SSW Sydney 2013).

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

We focus on seed stage companies that are on average one year old and have received pre-seed funding. The most fundamental aspect, at this stage, is the TEAM and how they execute their idea and monetize their product/service. It’s really all about the team! A successful founding team, beyond the border, is a focused, driven, passionate and hard working group of people.

Those are great tips! How can someone get involved with Seedstars?

As we are an invitation-only competition, startups must be invited through our partners or the SSW network. This ensures a certain quality of the deal-flow from the first round.

Applicants then pass through a second stage review at the Seedstars World headquarters before being invited to pitch in front of the judging panel at the local event. A five-member judging panel made up of successful entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders then determine the local winner based on the material submitted and a 6-minute pitch with 4-minute Q&A.

We encourage startups to get involved by applying for our local pitching events where you are based (email info@seedstarsworld.com) or get involved by joining our multi-talented international team here!

Seedstars World is on Travel Massive! Connect with them here.