Travel is back, and new trends, innovations and alliances are popping up everywhere! Today, the online publications FutureTravel and TravelThink announced they will work together to form a leading source of news and insights on innovation and trends in the travel & tourism industry. From today onwards, they are teaming up to improve their content output and leverage a combined/global reach via FutureTravel.com and [...]
Speaking in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe, Munnangi explained how the multimodal platform uses data – both online and offline – to solve for complex customer journeys. Speaking with news editor Jill Menze, Munnangi also discussed how consumer preferences and the nature of travel have shifted since the onset of the pandemic, as well as changing perceptions around [...]
Several months after just about every venture firm told their portfolio companies to prepare for a funding drought, some investors are saying the health of the startup ecosystem may not be as dire as it once seemed. Investors are expressing renewed, albeit cautious, optimism thanks to strength in some tech earnings, particularly of cloud companies, [...]
This ostensibly simple question has sparked fierce debate, the terms of which neatly illustrate the chasm between technology evangelists and cynics. It’s also the question that underlies this report, for the Metaverse must be defined, contained, and contextualized before its merits and flaws can be properly understood. Though this snapshot offers a perspective on the [...]
Virgin Voyages has closed on $550m in new capital raised to support its growth, led by BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited. This raise includes new external financing, additional capital from existing investors including Bain Capital Private Equity and Virgin Group, as well as support from existing lenders. The new funding will enable Virgin Voyages to execute [...]
While demand for short-term rentals has showed few signs of waning since the onset of the pandemic – some regions are reporting record levels of demand as of last month – building supply has proven more challenging. But that’s where some players in the space see opportunity. In a panel discussion with PhocusWire news editor Jill Menze, Henrik Kjellberg, CEO [...]
Aero Technologies, Inc. the next-generation premium air travel company, which serves routes in both the US and Europe, today announced a $65M capital raise, $50M in Series B funding and $15M in convertible notes, for a total post-money valuation of $300M. The funding round was co-led by AlbaCore Capital Group, one of Europe’s leading alternative investment firms, and [...]
One of the most frequent questions is what is the optimal number of startup co-founders? This is a tough question given there are so many factors at play. Ilya Strebulaev, Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business | Venture Capital & Private Equity, has addressed the question. Here is evidence on the number of co-founders [...]
Hopper, the mobile travel booking startup and app that lets users book flights, hotels, cars, and — most recently — short-term home rentals a la Airbnb and VRBO, has been on a fast pace of growth in the wake of Covid-19 travel restrictions loosening up in the last year, with 70 million downloads to date and $2 [...]
The presence of inflation that is uncomfortably higher than the Fed’s stated policy goal of roughly 2.0% fundamentally alters how the Fed can conduct monetary policy. The rise in short-term interest rates, and more importantly, the sharp increase in market expectations of further tightening, has been the primary driver of recent market turmoil. The corresponding [...]