At Beta-i we have supported many tourism startups along the years. Many of those have hit the headlines, have grown incredibly fast, and have made us proud.
Startups that have been through our accelerators like Uniplaces, the student accommodation platform which is currently one of the most successful startups in Europe, or Inviita, the mobile app for city tours which seriously impressed TechCrunch’s editor Mike Butcher, have really made of Lisbon a top tourism startup hub.
However, we felt like we could do more. We felt that tourism was too big of an industry not to have its own program. So, we talked with one of our key partners, Turismo de Portugal, to figure out how we could support innovation in tourism, from Lisbon to the world.
With this in mind, we have launched a new accelerator in Lisbon, The Journey, and this is where it begins. Together with Turismo de Portugal, we have brought together some of the top players in tourism including Airbnb, Pestana Hotel Group, Agência Abreu, Amadeus, Grupo Barraqueiro, and NOS, to help promising startups in tourism take off. You’ll get to work with these big companies on your product, take advantage of their huge network, and close important partnerships and customers for your business.
Lisbon is currently one of the trendiest travel destinations in the world. We’ve had over 3.5 million tourists last year, coming from all over the globe. Lisbon is also one of the top 5 cities on Airbnb. It hosts huge events such as the Web Summit, the best tech conference in Europe, or NOS Alive, one of the best music festivals in the world. With its undeniably beautiful landscape, Lisbon is the perfect set for a booming startup scene, that is welcoming more and more international entrepreneurs, and it’s the perfect place for you to start a business.