Skift Global Forum 2015: Bluesmart CEO on Crowdfunding a Travel Startup
Skift Take
Any company can launch a crowd-funding campaign but it's what action a startup takes after the funds stop trickling in that determines its fate. For Bluesmart, that's focusing on telling a story of reimagining the decades-old suitcase concept and bringing it into the mobile era and doing experimental partnerships with major brands that add value to the travel experience.
Diego Saez-Gil, CEO and co-founder of Bluesmart will speak about launching a travel startup through crowdfunding at the Skift Global Forum on October 14 and 15 in Brooklyn, New York. See the complete list of amazing speakers and topics at the Skift Global Forum.
Travelers can track virtually every aspect of their trip via their mobile device, so why should luggage be excluded from that capability? That's a question Diego Saez-Gil, CEO and co-founder of Bluesmart, a connected travel products company, asked when setting out to crowdfund and design luggage that travelers could know the location of at all times using a mobile app.
Bluesmart raised $2.1 million through crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to get its idea off the ground, and also received backing from Y Combinator. It's also received more than $900,000 worth of pre-orders for its products which start shipping in August and will be available at retailers and on its website for instant shipping by the end of this year.
As its products become widely available later this year the company will launch a partnership with Uber, which certainly doesn't hurt its street credibility as a two-year-old startup. That partnership will involve Uber drivers delivering lost or delayed luggage to
