A Look Back: The 2nd Travel Start-up Night 2022 in Cologne
Dirk Bremer from the TIC welcomes the guests
After last year’s Travel Start-up Night at billiger-mietwagen.dein Cologne was a huge success, it was clear that there would be a repeat this year, and so the second TIC&VIRTravel Start-up Night took place this year on April 7, 2022, in Cologne. This was finally the first in-person event again after six months of digital events, and the venue was well attended: around 35 guests accepted the invitation to experience a networking evening featuring exciting startup pitches.
View from the "event kitchen"
Start-up Night kicked off at 6:30 p.m. Dirk Bremer, President ofthe Travel Industry Club, opened the evening. He warmly welcomed the guests and thanked the sponsors of the prize package for the top 3 start-ups of 2022, as well as this year’s event partner, Berlin Partner.
He then handed the floor over to the hosts, Mirko Behnert and Sven Ahrens, Managing Directors at billiger-mietwagen.de, who also welcomed the guests on behalf of the sponsor of Start-up Night Cologne andintroduced Germany’s leading price comparison portal for rental cars. They expressed their delight that events could finally take place again at the venue known as the “Eventküche” and their hope to host many more events at this fantastic location overlooking the Rhine.
Nils Lohmann of socialbnb
Before the pitches began, Nils Lohmann, CEO ofsocialbnb, introduced the startup, which took second place in the 2020 finals of the TIC & VIR Travel Start-up Nights. In his presentation, he shared the history and mission of the Cologne-based impact startup, which offers short-term lodging at social and environmental organizations around the world.
Leila Lemkecher and Jenny Hanisch explain the evening's program
After a brief overview of the evening’s schedule by Jenny Hanisch from VIR and Leila Lemkecher from TIC, it was time for the selected startups to focus their full attention and dive into the competition for the evening’s victory—and thus a spot in the Travel Startup Nights finals at the end of the year.
3, 2, 1… Pitch
The actyvyst team
The event was kicked off by the two founders and managing directors of actyvyst, Ralf Siewert and Thomas Görldt.actyvyst is a digital marketplace for tours and activities in tourist regions, generating revenue from booking commissions and advertising. The startup thus solvesthe problem for travelers of a lack of clarity regarding leisure activities, as well as the lack of online booking options and cashless payment processing.For providers, it addresses the issues of insufficient online visibility and reach, high complexity in online/mobile marketing and processing of their offerings, and cashless payment processing.
Robin Viets presents Go Remotical
Next up was Robin Viets, co-founder and CEO of Go Remotical.The common customer problem the startup aims to solve: “How do I relocate my home office abroad for a certain period of time?”Go Remotical’s offering: providing employees working from home and freelancers with a comprehensive service to relocate their home office to another European country for a certain period of time. All questions—from legal matters to finding housing and setting up the workspace on-site—are addressed, thereby lowering the barrier to entry for anyone interested in remote work.
Daniel Helbig answers the guests' questions
Next up was Daniel Helbig, founder and COO of moverii, the online marketplace for the best sports and active travel experiences worldwide! The search for a sports or active travel experience is often long and complicated: there are a multitude of local providers, some with incomplete information, no independent comparison tools, and a booking and payment process that is largely manual. Moverii offers a fully digital solution tailored to the needs of sports and active travel providers that can be implemented without risk, cost, or effort, while users can filter through a wide variety of quality-checked trips, compare them using independent reviews, and book and pay securely online.
Urs Pospischil pitches YONA
Urs Pospischil, founder and CEO of YONA, wrapped up the event. The startupoffers augmented reality content via a subscription model on its platform, such as 3D models of ancient fortifications, which anyone can access and view using the free YONA AR app. YONA’s “All in One” and “One for All” solution thus solves several problems for the tourism industry at once:providingtheright information at the right time and in the right place; separating technology and content providers; lowering the barrier to entry and accommodating micro-enterprises; resolving the funding paradox; and strengthening local retail.
Who will win Start-up Night?
Winner of the evening
After each pitch, there is a brief period for questions from the audience. Once again, attendees took advantage of this opportunity to offer plenty of praise and suggestions. Since Travel Start-up Nights always bring together both established players in the tourism industry and young startups, this is a perfect opportunity for the pitching startups to gather feedback and refine their business models.
Networking session to follow
Before everyone relaxed and wrapped up the evening with drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the event kitchen at billiger-mietwagen.de, everyone was naturally eager to find out which startup had come out on top. Urs Pospischil from YONA won over the evening’s guests and secured a spot in the finals. Second place went to Daniel Helbig from moverii, who can still hope for a spot in the finals.
We would like to take this opportunity to once again extend our heartfelt thanks to our event partner, billiger-mietwagen.de!
The next VIR & TIC Travel Start-up Night will take place on May 12 in Salzburg!
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