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10+ Travel Apps to Help You Create Memorable, Worry-Free Trips

Travel startups, Canva
Image credit: Canva

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on the travel industry, closing tourist attractions, hotels, bars and restaurants, and limiting transportation. 

Now with restrictions being lifted in many places around the world, the tourism sector is bouncing back.

The past year has been hard for travel startups in the Southeast European region, yet it has also given them the opportunity to grow, develop and learn from the unprecedented situation. 

Check out some of the most promising travel startups from Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

 

Travel startups with Southeast European DNA

LockTrip

Year of founding: 2014

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Nikola Alexandrov

What it does: A decentralized, blockchain-based hotel booking and vacation rental marketplace.

Funding round: Corporate round

Total funding amount: $4.1 million

Key investors: Webjet.com.au

 

Tripis

Year of founding: 2020

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders:: Cristian Ghita

What it does: With a matching algorithm, Tripis helps you find the right travel partner and meet members for local experiences. You can also receive and give ratings in the app.

Funding round: Unknown

Total funding amount: Unknown

Key investors: Unknown

 

Framey

Year of founding: 2019

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Robert Preoteasa, Alexandru Iulian Florea

What it does: Framey lets travelers transform their dream photos into memorable trips. The mobile app allows users to create fully personalized itineraries starting with just one photo they like.

Funding round: Seed

Total funding amount: $1 million

Key investors: ICE Capital, JECO Capital

 

SkyRefund

Year of founding: 2017

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Ivaylo Danailov, Kaloyan Todorov, Maria Danailova

What it does: Passenger rights have become one of the most important and commonly violated consumer rights. Recently,  flight disruptions have been on the rise. SkyRefund gathers together internationally recognized lawyers, software developers and claims specialists to help air passengers uphold their rights and get up tp 600 euro refunds in case of disruptions.

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Funding round: Unknown

Total funding amount: Unknown

Key investors: Unknown

 

ClaimCompass

Year of founding: 2015

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Velizar Shulev, Tatyana Mitkova, Alexander Sumin

What it does: The startup allows air passengers to receive their up to 700 euro compensation for delayed, canceled, or overbooked flights. In 2020, they acquired the US travel app Service.

Funding round: Seed

Total funding amount: $1.8 million

Key investors: 500 Startups, Good News Ventures, Social Capital 

 

Colibra 

Year of founding: 2018

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Miroslav Zaporozhanov, Kalojan Georgiev, Stilyan Zaporozhanov, Ivan Belomorski

What it does: The Colibra app aims to offer instant compensations for cancelled or delayed flights for more than one-hour flights.

Funding round: Seed

Total funding amount: $2 million

Key investors: Eleven Ventures, Asterion

 

DCS Plus

Year of founding: 2002

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Cristian Dinca

What it does: DCS Plus design software products that aim to answer the needs of travel agencies and include corporate self-booking tools, an internet booking engine, a tour operator solution for advanced contract management, and development of multiple selling channels.

Funding round: Unknown

Total funding amount: $6.2M

Key investors: Earlybird Venture Capital, Credo Ventures

 

Ferryhopper

Year of founding: 2016

Headquarters: Athens, Attica, Greece

Founders: Aiden Short, Christos Spatharakis, Panagiotis Sarafis, Vasileios Lahanas

What it does: The online platform allows users to compare and book ferry route tickets. It serves more than 3 million travelers, and offers ferry routes across 400 destinations in 15 countries.. They recently raised a 5 million euro round to improve existing services and continue expansion in Europe.

Funding round: Series B

Total funding amount: $8.9M

Key investors: Piton Capital, Metavallon VC, LAUNCHub Ventures, easyGroup

 

Questo

Year of founding: 2017

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Alexandru Govoreanu, Claudiu Petria

What it does: Questo’s mobile platform for game-based city exploration turns cities into playgrounds – tourists can follow clues, unlock new places and solve riddles while learning more about the locations and their history.

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Funding round: Seed

Total funding amount: $1.8 million

Key investors: Early Game Ventures, Sparking Capital

 

Stasher

Year of founding: 2015

Headquarters: London, UK 

Founders: Anthony ColliasJacob Wedderburn-Day, Matthew Majewski

What it does: The solution of the Greek-born startup facilitates the online search and booking of luggage storage. Items stored at a StasherPoint are covered for damage, loss, and theft up to the value of £1K. In March 2022, Stasher acquired short-term luggage storage network Cubby for an undisclosed amount.

Funding round: Unknown 

Total funding amount: $5.4 million

Key investors: VentureFriends, Pitch@Palace, Johan Svanstrom

 

Triparound

Year of founding: 2019

Headquarters: Athens, Greece and Palo Alto, California

Founders: Christos Stergiou, Antonis Chalkiopoulos

What it does: Triparound’s SaaS solution helps travel specialists source customers and suppliers by utilizing data migration, assists travel companies to create pre-packaged and customized itineraries, and automates the booking process.

Funding round: Seed

Total funding amount: $2 million

Key investors: CapitalG partner Laela Sturdy, DFJ partner Andreas Stavropoulos, Tenaya Capital partner Ben Boyer

 

WelcomePickups

Year of founding: 2016

Headquarters: Athens, Attica, Greece

Founders: Alexandros Trimis, Savvas Georgiou

What it does: The tech platform offers transfer services, essential products, pre-ordered tickets to top attractions, tips and tailor-made experiences led by locals.

Funding round: Series A

Total funding amount: $6.8M

Key investors: Venture Friends

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https://therecursive.com/author/viktoriakuzmanova/

Viktoria is an Innovation Reporter at The Recursive and a sophomore-standing student at the American University in Bulgaria. Combining her Business Administration studies while mapping the Southeastern European startup ecosystem is a positive-sum game for her as she has the chance to interact with the most active entrepreneurs in the region. Her favorite topics include venture capital structures, investments, as well as innovations in the scitech and fintech sectors.