Startups

H2O Hospitality is a Korean startup that gained traction in Japan and now plans to offer its hotel and vacation rental management services in other markets. If you can make it in Osaka, you can make it anywhere.

Are special purpose acquisition companies losing their shine? We'll find out more in the coming months as other travel startups plan to go public.

Travel startups Angel Host, Thatch, Wanderlog, YouTravel, Margin Fuel, Zo World, and others have raised capital this week. Continued innovation is a bright spot as the travel sector heads into the last quarter of the year.

The travel sector is recovering slowly and unevenly from the pandemic, so startups will need all the help they can get to thrive.

Airlines have historically been cautious about adopting new technologies. So it's striking to hear any talk that carriers are buying new software during the pandemic-related revenue crisis.

This reporter managed to include Kourtney Kardashian's Insta in this story about travel tech. #winning #socialmedia #thinkfluencer

This week, Nigeria's Plentywaka, India's Oyo, and South Korea's GuideLive announced more than $7 million in funding collectively.

Travel startups raised more than $390 million in funding this week for concepts such as launching a budget airline, enabling influencers to sell trips, and making it easier to book European campsites, Korean hotels, and Saudi short-term rentals.

RateGain, a 15-year-old travel tech firm, wants to position itself for growth post-pandemic by raising capital. Its private equity sponsor TA Associates also wants a payday, and no wonder.

Travel startup Hopper has raised $175 million in additional investment, underscoring the potential of its financial services products and offering an interesting case study in new appetites in travel for fintech. It seems very much in the cards that the company will go public by, say, 2022.