The 5th Cycle of CapsuleT has just started!
Which are the new teams?
The 10 new startup teams that managed to gather the highest score and were selected by the Evaluation & Guidance Jury to join the 5th cycle of the Acceleration Program (September 2022 – February 2023), were welcomed yesterday by the CapsuleT Travel & Hospitality Accelerator.
In the starting ceremony of the 5th Cycle, in a special face to face “Welcoming Event” which took place at the offices of CapsuleT the first one to welcome the startups on stage was the President of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Mr. Alexandros Vassilikos who underlined that: “Through this effort I think that the biggest benefit that exists is the creation of a very strong community around the startups of Greek tourism. We have great companies now as an ecosystem and we are given the opportunity to support the new teams which are coming out with great ideas. This is proved also by the international distinction we received last month by being named the Best Accelerator in Southern Europe.” At the same time, he thanked both the CapsuleT team and the members of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, as well as the sponsors of the new cycle for their contribution.
Subsequently, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Sophia Zacharaki, also addressed the event, thanking those responsible for the opportunity to stand by the work of CapsuleT , stating that she will continue to be on the side of their efforts in a substantial, methodical and progressive way. “We are reaching the 5th cycle and I am confident that its creativity can surpass the high limits that existed in the previous four cycles. I think that is what the previous ones want, always moving forward and giving answers to questions that have not yet been asked,” the Deputy Minister first said, revealing later that: “Today we sent a letter from the World Tourism Organization for a fresh competition until October 12, so that we can have a lot of Greek entries from startup companies. There will be a mentoring system, a very important guidance, a showcasing of the work of these companies and we hope to be able to collect very interesting entries from the great talents that CapsuleT has brought out.”
The Director of CapsuleT, Mrs. Katerina Saridaki, addressed the audience and thanked the sponsors and strategic partners of the accelerator, saying that “without them the programme would not be able to work effectively and efficiently for the teams“. Regarding CapsuleT’s international distinction at SESA 2022 as the Best Accelerator in Southern Europe, she underlined: “This win came as a pleasant surprise to us because we are the first Greek accelerator initiative to win at this competition. Now, we are moving towards a global distinction as we have directly entered the competitive part of the Global Startup Awards! It’s a tough competition, but it’s a great honour and pleasure to be able to be on the same level with accelerators from all over the world.“
After the presentations of the representatives of the state and the accelerator, the startups that joined the program took the floor, and had the opportunity to briefly present their business proposals to the members of the CapsuleT community that were present at the venue. The main part of this event was, of course, the meeting and the first face-to-face contact of the new teams with representatives of the state and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, with mentors & judges of the program, strategic partners & sponsors of the accelerator, but also with other members of the Greek tourism ecosystem, with whom they exchanged views, while clarifying the content of the 5-month program.
The Teams of the 5th Cycle
More specifically, the teams who entered in the new Cycle of acceleration are the following (with alphabetical order):
– Cellarhopping
– Deliverback
– estbnb
– EXPERIENCESCANNER
– INTELIGG P.C.
– Kalimera App
– OPEN CALLS
– orbito travel
– Star Sleep
– Workntour
What the Acceleration Program has to offer
The Accelerator Program is offered to the selected teams free of charge and without any other financial requirements (e.g. equity or shares from their company). Its duration is 5 months, during which time the selected start-ups – in addition to their participation in the programme – can use the accelerator premises free of charge with the possibility of extending the period of use for a further 3 months from the end of the programme.
The program includes activities such as workshops and mentoring meetings, while an important part of the programme is also the presentation opportunities and meetings with tourism executives (meetups), visits to hotels and leading travel agencies (on-site visits), as well as networking activities through attendance at networking events. In addition, outside activities – through conferences and participation in exhibitions and delegations in Greece and abroad – constitute another pillar of the programme.
Which leading companies will support the startups?
Please note that the 5th round of the Acceleration Program will be held – as always – with the valuable assistance and sponsorship of Google as a gold sponsor of the program, while also participating with educational workshops and mentoring, by the non-profit organization “The People’s Trust”, which will support for the second consecutive year the further development of technological startups in the tourism industry and the competitive part of the program by offering the cash prizes for the 3 winners, as well as Aegean Airlines as the official airline of the teams.
NBG Business Seeds, Nelios, PwC Greece, TÜV AUSTRIA Hellas and Programize are also important and active strategic partners of the accelerator’s activities.
At the same time, the CapsuleT team is once again joining forces with recognized startups in the tourism market such as Clio Muse Tours, Ferryhopper, Triparound, Welcome Pickups, Workathlon and Wooftogether, which have joined the program as community partners. Finally, a supporter for the provision of coffee products will be Douwe Egberts/Foodrinco.
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