Final pitch day for 12 finalists set for May

Expedia Group’s bet on launching an accelerator focused on inclusion and diversity last September appears to have paid off, with 12 startups joining its first cohort.

In an interview with WiT, Aditi Mohapatra, vice president, Global Social Impact and Sustainability, Expedia Group, said, “We did take a risk and chance by starting an accelerator in inclusion and diversity. There was uncertainty about the range of startups that exist – how many would we find – and until we made a call, we weren’t sure.”

Aditi Mohapatra: Will bring in audience of investors as programme builds pace

As it turned out, “we were thrilled at the hundreds of applicants we received – many of the startups were created during Covid, during a period of quiet in travel which allowed new businesses to emerge and we were pleasantly surprised by the number and quality.”

In choosing its 12 finalists for the first programme, which was focused on empowering companies working to increase access for underserved travellers, Mohapatra said the selection was based more on criteria such as scalability of tech, product differentiation and current market opportunities than on the financial and investment aspects of the startups.

“We are coming at this from two areas – product and technology – and do we think Expedia Group’s capabilities in this space could power them and how we can partner with them? What are they doing from an impact perspective and how do we break barriers to create a more inclusive, accessible industry?

“As the programme continues to build pace, then we can look at how can we bring investors to these companies, but an audience of investors is not a core focus right now.”

When that time comes, Mohapatra, who comes to Expedia Group with a 15-year background in corporate responsibility and sustainability and ESG investing, will be more than qualified to take the accelerator onto the next stage.

“The role of capital markets in driving social and environmental change is a hot area of focus right now and it is helpful to understand the drivers from the investment community, how investors are thinking of it,” she said.

She was managing director with BSR, Business for Social Responsibility, and prior to that, worked with Calvert Investment Management, a leading sustainable and responsible investment firm.

She said her appointment to head the newly-created role of social impact and sustainability at Expedia Group a year ago signalled the company’s ambition to elevate its effort and opportunities in social impact and sustainability.  “Covid gave travel companies the time and space to reimagine its space and embed thinking into how travel comes back.”

She noted that the 12 finalists covered a wide geographic area and that even though most of them were based in the US or Europe, most have plans and offerings for the global traveller, including in Asia Pacific.

Specifically, Wheel the World (incidentally, the Global Startup of the Year 2022 by WiT and Phocuswright), Greether, SoloTrvlr and misterb&b provide destination guides and/or listings in APAC while Sociability founder Matt Pierri is from Australia and of Malaysian descent.

Apart from receiving up to a US$20,000 cash grant each, the 12 finalists will take part in a five-month virtual programme of workshops led by Expedia employees and have bi-weekly meetings with mentors around product, tech and strategy. They also get access to the group’s tech platform.

Mohapatra said one of the most satisfying outcomes of the selection process of the first cohort was how the founders realised “I am not the only startup founder in a wheelchair” or “I am not the only token female”.

“They met and realised they are part of a community of startups all working to make travel more inclusive and accessible. They can learn so much from each other,” she said. “Also, they can skip straight to talk about innovation instead of spending time talking about, ‘oh what is it like to spend so much time in a wheelchair’.”

After the five-month programme, a final pitch day will be held in front of a curated audience at Expedia’s offices in Seattle.

For Mohapatra, this first step has been eye-opening as well as heart-warming. “So many of them started because of personal life experiences and circumstances. Wheel The World’s founder Albaro Silberstein wanted to hike a famous path in Patagonia. Greether’s founder was stalked during her travels during Covid and wondered, ‘how safe am I as a woman travelling alone?’.

“Becoming RentABLE’s Lorainne Woodward and her son started her own vacation rental company to make homes more accessible because she found wheelchair users like her were looking for similar accommodation.”

The key is how to turn these personal stories into financially sustainable businesses, Mohapatra acknowledges. “How can they overlap, and if they can drive business value,” she said. “Our value add is really about bringing the best of these businesses forward to address these issues with our technology, insights and resources – how do we deploy them to accelerate their growth. Everyone can write cheques.”

She said the Accelerator also gives Expedia employees a chance to serve as mentors and give back their expertise to a meaningful part of travel.

Plans for the next cohort include a co-development track in which startups will be invited to co-develop product as well as an environmental sustainability and technology track.

Some images courtesy of Greether and Wheel The World