What Nervous Travel Startup Investors and Founders Should Watch for Next
Photo Credit: Plug and Play is a startup accelerator program in Sunnyvale, California, that provides startup founders with chances to pitch in front of audiences with corporate partners and venture capitalists. Plug and Play
Skift Take
From short-term rentals to tours and activities to corporate travel, here are pockets of the travel tech startup sector to follow closely in the weeks ahead.
The coronavirus pandemic is impacting the entire travel industry, but the effect on individual travel startups will vary.
"It's like a giant meteor hit our industry," said Adam Harris, the CEO of hotel software services provider Cloudbeds, which closed an $82 million Series C round last week. "We're still all figuring out what's going on, hour by hour."
Some companies may have business models facing a surprise stress test, such as ones that have offered price-guarantees to suppliers. Others have may have relied too much on endless rounds of top-up funding as a source of cash flow.
"The impact of this public health scare on travel tech startups won't be indiscriminate," said Sundeep Chanana, founder of Horatio Partners, an investment bank focusing on late-stage tech startups.
Skift spoke to several industry leaders about where the weaknesses and strengths may lie in travel startups. The areas of short-term rental, corporate travel, and tours-and-activities popped up as high
