Event Recap – Travel Tech Tournament in Berlin

On June 20th, the Berlin travel start-up scene got together for the first Travel Tech Tournament, hosted by Berlin Travel Massive chapter with their partner travel audience.

Thanks to Lisa, a travel marketing & PR expert and co-lead of our Berlin chapter, for putting together this event recap. 

Out of all the applicants, five great startups were pre-selected to present their product in front of a live audience of close to 100 spectators and answered questions from the jury. The finalists were (in alphabetical order): BookItGreen, Klazz, Time Rift Tours, Tripalista and YOBO.

The members of our jury hailed from such well-known companies as GetYourGuide, HomeToGo, Amadeus Ventures, Startup Colors as well as travel audience and Travel Massive chapter lead Lydia Band.

Each startup was able to present their company and product for 10 minutes, highlighting their market positioning, early successes, funding secured as well as challenges. The jury then had the opportunity to ask additional questions and give initial feedback from their personal experience.

It was really interesting to hear about all the different ideas and products that can be part of the travel industry – from VR tours, to emoji-based review apps, to language travel, to a social trip-planning platform, to green travel.

All five startups had interesting stories to share – we particularly liked hearing about challenges and how they were solved (for example, assumptions that turned out not to be valid) as this tends to be one of the most fascinating aspects of startup presentations.

And the winner is…

While it was not an easy choice, especially considering that sustainability is hard to define and measure, in the end, our jury crowned BookItGreen the winner of the inaugural contest.

They convinced the jury with their focus on an important topic (eco-travel and green accommodations), a solid strategy and good answers addressing the jury’s questions and concerns about their product. Moritz, their CEO, gave an interesting and insightful presentation about their journey so far, some facts and figures about the industry and their plans for the future.

Congratulations again to founders Moritz and Philip!

Check out the video from the Travel Tech Tournament event in Berlin:

Join the Berlin Travel Massive for future events and find some more impressions from the Travel Tech Tournament event on the Travel Massive Discussion Lounge.