This is a regular roundup of some of the latest mobile application startup launches in travel covering everything from trip inspiration and planning to virtual assistants.
Gyde & Seek
What is it?
Gyde & Seek is a travel platform, connecting travelers directly with vetted, experienced guides (or gydes), allowing for customized travel experiences. The service is available via an app and online.
Who’s behind it?
Co-founders are Vanessa Guibert Heitner, Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist for eight years, and Andrea Guthrie, a high-level strategic consultant.
Is there a problem it’s trying to solve?
"Absolutely – the travel tour industry has remained unchanged for decades. Prior to Gyde & Seek, a traveler’s options were either affordable-yet-canned group experiences, or expensive private tours, where your interests were relayed through layers of middlemen.
"Gyde & Seek’s gydes offer bespoke, insider-access experiences; a traveler is able to select their gyde based on their interests, and interact directly with them via the Gyde & Seek platform, allowing for a completely customized travel experience – and you can do so on demand. You can book services up to a year in advance, or the night before, completely tailored to your own specifications."
Anything else?
Gyde & Seek is operating in four locations - Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro, Santiago and Mexico City. It plan s to expand to Budapest mid-August.
The company also gives back 2% of revenue to not-for-profit organisations.
Wander
What is it?
Wander is a travel search engine by budget. Users enter their total travel budget for flights and hotels, and it shows them places all over the world that they can get to.
Who's behind it?
The two founding members are husband and wife team Itai and Noa Sagi. Itai takes care of development and Noa is the user-interface designer.
Is there a problem you're trying to solve?
"The problem we're solving, or our aspiration, is to make travelling easier and more transparent, and to make the world smaller."
Anything else?
Wander got hunted on ProductHunt and reached the #2 spot after spotify's new product. The startup hasn't raised funding so far.
Proximity Grid
What is it?
Proximity Grid is creating a new location-based bookmarking platform enabling users to capture, create and share Grid Cards.
The Grid Card is a new kind of geo-discoverable object, one that is tied to a specific location and also factors in the time it was created and discovered.
A Grid Card can be used to represent anything that has a physical location. This means literally anything from bricks and mortar businesses, landmarks and points of interest, homes for sale, out of home advertising and private people sharing their location-based experiences with friends and family.
An artificial intelligence-based Grid Card creation engine has been developed which combines information from multiple sources in real time to create a card for every object, containing the essential information.
This enables users to rapidly identify, engage, share and stay connected with the things that matter most to them.
Grid Cards are discoverable by users who mark their time and location with a Grid Stamp.
A Grid Stamp is created with the click of a button in the Proximity Grid App, instantly collecting the user’s geo-location data. Latitude and longitude coordinates, speed, heading, elevation and many more stats about the users location and activity are included.
Who is behind it?
John Reimer is founder and CEO. He previously founded and led Lexar Media.
What problem are you trying to solve?
We believe people have missed connection’s everyday. Whether you're on the go or see something pass you by, we believe with the press of a button we can give users the ability to stay engaged with whatever object they desired to connect with."
Anything else?
Proximity Grid has raised more $1.85 million to date and is backed by some of the Valley’s top angel’s including Brian Jacobs, Bill Mclean, Peter Yewell and Marty Colombatto.