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| PinoyTravel, an IdeaSpace-backed startup that seeks to revolutionize the local provincial bus industry in the Philippines, was awarded as the “IT Startup of the Year” during the Cyberpress Awards in December. IN PHOTO: (From left) PinoyTravel Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Maui Millan, IdeaSpace Associate Director Dustin Masancay, PinoyTravel CEO and Co-Founder Aurora Soriano, Cyberpress President Alora Uy Guerrero and Vice President for Internal Affairs Paolo Montecillo. Photo courtesy of Raffy Pedrajita/Cyberpress |
For its bold attempts at revolutionizing the provincial bus industry in the Philippines, PinoyTravel, a startup that provides an online and mobile reservation system for domestic travel, has been named the “IT Startup of the Year” during the Cyberpress Awards in December.
PinoyTravel is one of the first incubatees of the largest privately-backed technology incubator and accelerator in the country, IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc. (IdeaSpace), and offers travelers the convenience of skipping the queue in bus terminals to reserve and purchase tickets to their provincial destinations.
Commercially launched in October 2013, PinoyTravel currently allows booking of bus seats to three local destinations—Baler, Baguio, and Tuguegarao—through its Android and Web apps.
“As a young startup company, we feel really honored to be recognized for the work that we did with PinoyTravel in 2013. We thank Cyberpress for this distinction that inspires us to do a lot more to change domestic travel in the country and promote local tourism as a whole,” said Aurora Soriano, President and Co-Founder at PinoyTravel.
The Cyberpress Awards, given annually by the IT Journalists Association of the Philippines, recognizes the best output of the technology industry every year. Among other awardees for 2013 include the LG G2 smartphone for “IT Product of the Year”; Cherry Mobile for “IT Company of the Year”; Peter Bithos for “IT Executive of the Year”; and the NSA scandal for “IT Story of the Year.”
Aside from receiving the award, PinoyTravel was also identified by IdeaSpace as one of the few startups it is currently evaluating for further funding and support.
IdeaSpace is currently on the lookout for fresh technology ideas that will form part of its second batch of startups for 2014. With entries now open to early-stage startups and ideas in Southeast Asia, IdeaSpace hopes to get more innovative technology solutions until the submission deadline on January 15, 2014.
“The Philippines and the entire Southeast Asian region has an edge in making a difference in the technology landscape through social innovations that address the market’s most pressing problems,” said Earl Martin Valencia, President and Co-Founder at IdeaSpace. “With the competiton now open to startups in Southeast Asia, we expect to get more sparks of genius such as PinoyTravel that we can help nurture and develop.”
To know how you can submit your unique technology idea to IdeaSpace, simply visit http://apply.ideaspacefoundation.org. Winners of the IdeaSpace 2014 Startup Competiton stand a chance to win an incubation and acceleration program worth P1 million, including seed funding, legal support, training, mentoring, housing and office space, among others.
To know more about PinoyTravel, please visit www.pinoytravel.com.ph or download the Android app on the Google Play Store.
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