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The WIT Startup Pitch is supported by Amadeus NEXT, a travel solutions provider

WIT Startup Pitch, a two-day offline travel tech conference and bootcamp, is inviting submissions for its WIT Japan & North Asia 2017 tour. The Amadeus Next-supported event will be held in Tokyo, Japan.

Participating startups will be given the opportunity to be coached by travel industry veterans and present their solutions at the WIT conference.

To qualify, startups have to be below five years old and be related to travel and tourism.

Up to eight semi-finalists will be chosen and coached to present at the WIT Japan & North Asia 2017 Bootcamp on June 8.

Four finalists will then be selected for the Grand Final Pitch that will take place during the WIT Japan & North Asia conference on June 9.

The Grand Final Pitch winner will win a ticket to WIT Conference Singapore from October 23 to 25, 2017, and to Phocuswright in Hollywood, Florida from November 7 to 9.

Benefits of WIT Startup Pitch

WIT Startup Pitch has had vast experience organising travel tech conferences, having held its Japan & North Asia tour for the past 12 years. Past pitch participants have had considerable success after attending the event.

Travel activities marketplace Voyagin made its debut at WIT Japan Startup Pitch in 2013 and have since been acquired by Rakuten. Another WIT alumnus BeMyGuest showcased its solution at the WIT Startup Pitch in 2012; it went on to join Fast Company’s Top 50 most innovative companies listing in 2016.

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Head of Southeast Asia for Voyagin, Andrew Tan, said: “WIT has opened many doors for BeMyGuest, which a startup in our early days might not otherwise have had access to. WIT is a great platform for travel startups to meet industry giants such as Expedia and Google, and also to gain exposure in different markets.”

“The way the WIT programmes are set up also creates opportunities for learning and training, gaining experts’ insights and understanding new trends and data, and also a certain level of market testing and validation. WIT’s ecosystem also means that participants old and new become a big family which presents a collaborative environment where many can do partnerships or deals together,” he added.

Another tours & activities player, Klook, which won the competition at WIT Japan in 2015, just raised Series B round of US$30 million in March, on top of Series A US$5 million raised in October last year.

Interested applicants can find more details here. All submissions are to be sent to vera.lye@webintravel.com by April 14.

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Image Credit: WIT Startup Pitch

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