Travel startups
Startups rebuilding discovery, planning and booking for travellers the mainstream platforms serve badly.
What counts as Travel
Travel covers startups rebuilding discovery, planning and booking for travellers the mainstream platforms serve badly. On this hub that means niche discovery for people with specific requirements, marketplaces for experiences and boats rather than hotel rooms, local guides written by residents, and the financial products - insurance and saving - that sit around a trip.
Built for the traveller the big sites ignore
The clearest pattern here is specificity. Almost none of these companies compete with the large booking platforms on breadth. They win by serving someone those platforms cannot filter for.
Requirements the mainstream sites cannot handle
Kosher Travel Finder and Pesach Program Finder both exist because kosher observance is not a checkbox on a booking engine - the research used to mean spreadsheets and hechsher checks. Freedive Adventures built a platform for a sport nobody categorises, and Med Travel Hub organises trips around a profession rather than a destination.
Greether is the most pointed of them, connecting female-identified travellers to local guides on the basis that safety information is the missing product.
Experiences, not rooms
Very little of this hub is about hotels. GetMyBoat is the largest marketplace for boat rentals and water experiences. Hoamsy sells the things local hosts actually do - llama petting, oyster decorating, beach yoga - and YouTravel.Me matches people into small group adventures put together by experts.
Local knowledge as the product
Bindy Street is explicitly aimed at Londoners as much as at visitors, which is a good test of whether a city guide is any good. BestCafeDesigns.com picks an unusual lens - cafe architecture - and Postcard Travel uses representation itself as the mechanism, promoting hotels and tours that support the communities they sit in.
The money around the trip
Three companies here never touch the itinerary. Faye rebuilt travel insurance as a fully digital whole-trip product. 401(play) turns saving for a holiday into an employee benefit, and MirrorTrip removes the one-way rental fee by matching two drivers heading in opposite directions - the neatest idea on the hub.
| Company | What it does | Built for |
|---|---|---|
| Kosher Travel Finder | Removes the spreadsheet-and-hechsher research from planning a kosher vacation. | Kosher travellers |
| Pesach Program Finder | Matches families to a Passover program against dietary and observance requirements. | Kosher travellers |
| Greether | Travel safety marketplace connecting female-identified travellers with local guides. | Women travelling |
| Freedive Adventures | Custom-built booking platform exclusively for freediving and ocean conservation trips. | Freedivers |
| Med Travel Hub | Travel experiences built around a community of healthcare professionals. | Healthcare workers |
| GetMyBoat | The largest marketplace for boat rentals, charters and bookable water experiences. | On the water |
| YouTravel.Me | Algorithm-powered booking for small group adventure travel organised by travel experts. | Group travel |
| Hoamsy | Experiences hosted by local creators and experts, from llama petting to beach yoga. | Experiences |
| Postcard Travel | Media and representation platform for hotels and tours that support local communities. | Responsible tourism |
| Unique NOLA Tours | Local New Orleans tour company running ghost, true crime and neighbourhood tours. | Experiences |
| Bindy Street | Free app with hundreds of curated London guides, aimed at residents as much as visitors. | City guides |
| BestCafeDesigns.com | Curated gallery of remarkable cafe architecture around the world. | City guides |
| Germany Travel Blog | In-depth guides to travelling across Germany, its culture and its regions. | City guides |
| Trailblazing Love | Curated activity boxes turning a date night into an outdoor adventure. | Experiences |
| Faye | Fully digital whole-trip travel insurance covering the trip, belongings and health. | Trip finance |
| 401(play) | Employee benefit that lets staff save toward travel, where travel meets fintech. | Trip finance |
| MirrorTrip | Matches one-way car rentals with people driving the opposite direction. | Getting there |
| Essence of Dreams | All-inclusive luxury villa on a Costa Rican mountain, built around purpose and retreat. | Stays |
Latest in Travel
How Kosher Travel Finder is Revolutionizing Jewish Vacations
Planning a kosher vacation used to mean endless spreadsheets, confusing hechsher checks, and hours of research. Not anymore.
Finding Your Perfect Pesach Program Just Got Easier with Pesach Program Finder
Planning for Pesach can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to finding the right Passover program for your family. Between dietary restrictions,…
Freediving Reaches New Depths: The Startup Making a Global Splash
Freedive Adventures has launched a world-first custom-built online platform exclusively for freediving and ocean conservation adventures. The vibrant…
Discovering Germany: A Journey Beyond Borders with Stephan Drescher
Germany Travel Blog offers in-depth guides, tips, and insights into traveling across Germany, helping readers discover the country's rich culture,…
Roaming Aromas: BestCafeDesigns.com Redefines the Blend ofDesign, Travel, and Coffee
BestCafeDesigns.com showcases extraordinary cafe architecture worldwide. It offers a curated gallery of visually stunning cafes, highlighting innovative…
Date Nights, Redefined: Trailblazing Love's Epic Outdoor Adventures
Trailblazing Love offers unforgettable date night experiences. With curated activity boxes, couples can embark on thrilling journeys and create lasting…
A bucket list that everybody dreams of
Planning the perfect trip to a remote destination like the Maldives can be daunting. You want to make sure all the details are taken care of, and that…
Homemade Authentic Experiences: Hoamsy
Llama petting, oyster decorating, and beach yoga. What do all of these have in common? They are hosted by small creators, local experts, and passionate…
Mindful Travel as a Force for Good
Postcard Travel is a media and representation platform for hotels and tours that support the local community and promote responsible tourism. The company…
Co-founder of New Orleans Ghost Tour Company on Creating a Unique Business
Unique NOLA Tours is a local New Orleans tour company that offers, local, ghost, and true crime tours.
Greether Helping Women Travel Safer Around the World
Greether is a new travel and safety marketplace for female identified travellers. Its mission is to help women travel safer by connecting them to local…
Bindy Street – The Insider Guide to Exploring London
Bindy Street is a free app with hundreds of curated city guides for those looking to get the best out of London life. Geared towards both locals and…
401(play) – It’s like a 401(k) for Vacations!
401(play) the newest and most exciting start-up to hit the landscape in years is now in full force where Travel meets FinTech meets Employee Benefits!…
Costa Rica Casa Dare to Dream - Finding Your Own Essence
Discovering your true purpose in life. That is what Essence of Dreams will offer. To provide an all-inclusive luxury villa on top of a mountain in Costa…
Faye - The Travel Insurance App For Your Summer Of Revenge Travel,Has Arrived
Faye is 100% digital, whole-trip travel insurance built to help things go right with coverage and care for your trip, your stuff, your health and even…
Meet GetMyBoat - The World’s Largest Boat Rental and Water Experience Marketplace
GetMyBoat makes the joys of being on the water more affordable and accessible, by making it easy to find and book boat rentals, charters, and water…
Med Travel Hub-Travel Experiences for Healthcare Professionals
What is more exciting than traveling the world? Traveling the world with a community that shares your daily struggles, and understands the need for a…
The ultimate boating experiences using GetMyBoat
GetMyBoat is the world's largest marketplace for boat rentals and all types of bookable water experiences. Whether it is a catamaran in California or a…
Personalized group travelling with YouTravel.Me
YouTravel.Me is an algorithm-powered online platform for booking small group adventure travel organized by travel experts.…
Travelling more for less, thanks to MirrorTrip
For inter-city travel: MirrorTrip is a one-way car rental solution that matches the user with people driving in the opposite direction - turning one-way…
Frequently asked questions
What kind of travel startups does this hub cover?
Mostly companies serving a traveller the large booking platforms handle badly - a specific diet, a specific sport, a specific safety concern or a specific community. Alongside those sit experience marketplaces, insider city guides, and the insurance and saving products that surround a trip.
Why are there so many niche platforms here?
Because the mainstream sites optimise for the average traveller. Kosher Travel Finder and Pesach Program Finder exist because observance requirements are not a filter on a normal booking site, Freedive Adventures because freediving is not a category, and Greether because safety information for women travelling alone is not either.
Is anyone working on travel safety?
Greether is the clearest example - a marketplace connecting female-identified travellers with local guides, built specifically around travelling more safely rather than more cheaply.
What is the most unusual business model on this hub?
MirrorTrip. It solves the cost of one-way car rental by matching a traveller with someone driving the opposite route, so the vehicle gets home without a repositioning fee. 401(play) is a close second, treating a holiday as something an employer helps you save for.
Do you cover tour operators as well as platforms?
Yes. Unique NOLA Tours is a working New Orleans tour company, Essence of Dreams runs a villa in Costa Rica, and Trailblazing Love sells curated outdoor date experiences - all profiled as operating businesses rather than as technology.