Low-cost airline ticket startup spreads its wings with seed funding

Photo credit: HelloWings, formerly TixChart, a product by backpacker travel company Outland, is a search and comparison service for low-cost airline tickets. It claims to offer suggestions and price comparisons much faster than other online services. Its proprietary tech brings up prices in real-time and suggests the cheapest routes.

It says it supports 96 airlines with over 400,000 routes, and has an average user growth of 10 percent every month.

HelloWings will use the funding to spread to Southeast Asia, looking at markets like Singapore and Malaysia. It will also recruit more engineers and local experts in the markets it wants to expand to.

Singapore and Malaysia are ideal for the company’s business because people in those markets use budget airlines extensively and are familiar with their offerings, according to CEO Mark Hsu. Southeast Asia is also home to a growing middle class with increasing buying power and a hunger for traveling.

HelloWings was part of the Tech in Asia Tour Taipei pitching contest leading up to Tech in Asia Tokyo 2015.