How this traveltech startup grew 7x despite Covid-19

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Hello readers,

My birthday is coming up, and I’d initially wanted to commemorate the occasion with a solo journey around Japan, seeing the sights and stuffing my face with delicious food. Unfortunately, Covid-19 threw a wrench in those plans, and I’m now stuck staring longingly at pictures of Mount Fuji and delicious bowls of ramen on my laptop screen.

My yearning for adventure, however, is nothing compared to the desire of the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors for business to resume. These sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic, and it’s pretty gloomy news all around. However, there have been some rays of hope shining through the storm.

Today we look at:

• How this traveltech company grew sevenfold in the pandemic
• What this edtech startup plans on doing with its fresh funds
• Other newsy highlights such as the ongoing investigation into CoAssets Group and Grab’s closure of a US$2 billion loan facility

PREMIUM SUMMARY

A flight path to growth

Covid-19 has been brutal on companies in the travel, tourism and hospitality space, but not all of them are in trouble. Vouch, a chatbot builder turned digital concierge service for hotels, has actually done pretty well for itself amid the pandemic. The traveltech startup, which had a single-digit market share in January 2020, captured 20% of hotels in Singapore after just a few months, with 80% of its revenue coming from the city-state.

• It’s the suite life: Hotels have been forced to adopt technology as a result of job cuts, which is where Vouch comes in. With the assistance of chatbots, hotels can offer a variety of services to customers, such booking taxis, making restaurant reservations, or buying tickets to local attractions.
• All the right moves: The Singapore government’s efforts to encourage domestic tourism played a part in Vouch’s success. Aside from providing digital concierge services to hotels, Vouch managed to lock down deployments with the National Heritage Board and other attractions including the Singapore Zoo, expanding its income sources.
• What’s next? With a 20% market share, Vouch has pretty much hit the ceiling in terms of securing the services of luxury hotels in the Lion City. The company has set its sights on markets like Korea, Japan, Australia, and Europe, but given the uncertainty around travel and tourism, only time will tell if it’ll be able to fully take flight.

Read more: How one traveltech startup grew sevenfold since the pandemic started

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