easyJet and Founders Factory have announced the first two travel start-ups for their Travel Tech accelerator programme: FLIO and LuckyTrip. The start-ups will receive hands-on support for six months to catapult their growth.
Andy Watson, co-founder, FLIO; Tiff Burns, co-founder, LuckyTrip; James Millett, Director of Digital, easyJet; Alex Burns, co-founder, LuckyTrip; and Louis Warner, COO Founders Factory.
In October 2016, easyJet announced a strategic investment into Founders Factory – a corporate-backed incubator and accelerator. Under this partnership, they will support the growth of five early stage travel tech start-ups and co-create two new travel businesses within the incubator programme every year, for five years.
“We’re delighted to announce the first companies in our Founders Factory initiative and welcome both FLIO and LuckyTrip into the easyJet portfolio,” says James Millett, Director of Digital & Marketing, easyJet. “Both companies have strong mobile first propositions in travel inspiration and airport experience that are already getting real traction with customers, have fantastic initiatives in their pipelines and passionate, talented entrepreneurs at the helm. Our five-year commitment to Founders Factory is all about putting disruptive thinking right at the heart of our digital activities to continue making things easier for customers at all stages of their journey with us. We look forward to working with the FLIO and LuckyTrip teams.”
As regular readers of Airport Business will know, FLIO is a global airport app for frequent travellers. It comes complete with maps, shopping deals, airport trips and departure information to help passengers navigate the airport and make their journey less stressful. It is currently working with 900 airports, and aims to become the single app solution for every airport in the world.
Meanwhile, LuckyTrip enables travellers – typically millennials – to set their budget and find a unique holiday in just one tap. Each trip gives you somewhere to go and the cheapest flight to get there, somewhere to stay, and something to do.
“Our in-house operations team will be providing an intense, bespoke support programme to assist with the growth of FLIO and LuckyTrip, something which, when combined with the industry knowledge and audience scale of easyJet, will mean an unparalleled offer for these start-ups,” comments Henry Lane Fox, co-founder and CEO, Founders Factory. “Our hunt for the brightest and best new innovation in travel tech is ongoing, and anyone with a great idea and brilliant team should get in touch with Founders Factory.”
FLIO is a global airport app described as a one-stop source for ‘all things airport’. Among its functions, it allows users to find an airport’s shopping and food & beverage services, as well as paid-for commercial services such as VIP lounges, fast track security and transportation. These airport services can be booked and purchased through FLIO.
