Destygo & Pruvo Win the Expedia Group Startup Pitch Competition at the Future of Travel Tech Summit 2019
"I believe that in the near future we will see collaborations between many of the startups and corporates who participated in the event."
MIAMI, February 14, 2019 (Newswire.com) - LAB Miami Ventures is proud to announce Destygo and Pruvo as the winners of the Expedia Group Startup Pitch Competition at the Future of Travel Tech Summit presented by JetBlue Technology Ventures.
The competition was judged by top professionals from the travel, tourism and hospitality industry: Luis Cabrera - President & CEO of Lonely Planet, Brandon Ehrhardt - Director of Platform Services at Expedia Group, Clyde Hutchinson - Head of Innovation at Viva Air, Kurien Jacob - Principal at Highgate Ventures, John Matson - Managing Director of Voyager HQ, and Simon Murray - VP of Guest Experiences & Innovation at Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Destygo, a startup from Paris, took first place and will receive over $100k worth of prizes. Destygo helps travel companies improve their business and travel experiences with chat/voice assistants.
"The Future of Travel Tech Summit was an amazing opportunity for us to meet great people working for high-performing companies, understand their challenges and look together for opportunities,” said Pierre Pakey, CTO and Co-Founder of Destygo. “It is not every day that you get such a concentration of talented people at the same place."
The People’s Choice Award, determined by popular vote of #FOTTECH2019 attendees, was awarded to Pruvo. The startup from Haifa, Israel monitors existing hotel reservations and helps customers to rebook the exact same room when prices drop.
“The Future of Travel Tech Summit was a great opportunity to connect with industry leaders from Expedia, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Kiwi and others while also getting the chance to meet great startups from around the world who competed in the competition,” said Itai Marcipar, CEO of Pruvo. “I believe that in the near future we will see collaborations between many of the startups and corporates who participated in the event.”
In addition to their pitch on stage, all of the startup finalists participated in a private “speed dating” session with sponsors and investors from companies such as JetBlue Technology Ventures, Expedia, Brightline, Amadeus, Viva Air, Carlson Wagonlit and many others. These meetings at previous “Future of” events have resulted in investments, collaborations and pilot programs between the startups and corporate executives.
Destygo will also be fast-tracked into the eMerge Americas startup showcase, where they will be able to pitch again in Miami on April 29-30, 2019. Please follow LAB Miami Ventures on LinkedIn and Facebook to stay up to date on news regarding our past startup pitch participants.
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LAB Miami Ventures ideates new tech businesses and then develops them from scratch in partnership with highly motivated entrepreneurs. Through our events and other corporate services, we help connect leading startups with established corporations and investors.
Source: LAB Miami Ventures