The NDC Innovation Fund, set up by IATA and Travel Capitalist Ventures to support innovation in distribution using the NDC standard, has named its first investments the Executive Travel App, known as ETA.
ETA addresses the need of the unmanaged business traveller. It integrates with a user's calendar and automatically creates an itinerary based on his or her preferences. If the chosen itinerary does not work, other options are made available.
The app also factors in hotels, and the whole journey can be booked with one click. Ground transportation can be booked through the app; lounge access can be purchased; the app even feeds in social media posts by other travellers relevant to the journey.
The start-up is chaired by Jeff Katz, founder of Orbitz and travel entrepreneur.
The scale of the investment has not been disclosed.
Abrar Ahmad, partner at TCV, said it has received 70 submissions to the fund since launch, "B2B, B2C early stage, apps, metasearch, geographically diverse."
Click here for a look at ETA.
Cheat sheet to the NDC Innovation Fund, run by IATA and Travel Capitalist Ventures