Future Travel Experience and JetBlue Technology Ventures Announce Four Finalists in the 2017 Start-up Competition and Showcase

The "Best New Start-Up" will be chosen at FTE Global in Las Vegas, 6-8 September

Future Travel Experience and JetBlue Technology Ventures today announced four finalists in the 2017 Start-up Competition and Showcase, a global start-up competition designed to help discover early-stage start-ups developing innovative concepts or products that aim to enhance the future passenger experience or ancillary revenue opportunities during the airport or inflight phases of travel. The finalists will now advance to a Start-up Showcase at Future Travel Experience Global 2017 in Las Vegas from 6-8 September 2017, where they will exhibit their products to an audience of 700+ senior attendees representing airlines, airports and other air transport and travel industry stakeholders. The winner will be chosen by audience vote and announced at the FTE Global Awards Ceremony.

2017 Start-up Competition and Showcase Finalists:

• Destygo (Paris, France) builds artificially intelligent chatbots for travel companies, giving travellers instant personalised offers and fast answers. Destygo's mission is to create, build and improve powerful chatbots for the travel industry through its own technology and a dedicated team of chatbot specialists.
• SeatAssignMate (New York) aims to help airlines and agencies increase ancillary revenue from email point of sales by building an interactive check-in app into travellers' inboxes. Through SeatAssignMate, travellers can purchase paid seats, select meals, and check-in bags whenever or wherever they open up their confirmation email, either via mobile device or on desktop.
• SkyLights (San Francisco) is developing a virtual reality (VR) platform for inflight entertainment. SkyLights enables passengers to tune out of their environment by enjoying premium cinematic entertainment using VR headsets. Passengers can enjoy premium 2D, 3D or 180º cinematic entertainment on an IMAX-like wide-angle screen. Skylights integrates content licensing deals, secure software, headset hardware and ground operations.
• TravelCar (Los Angeles) is a peer-to-peer car-sharing service that provides an affordable, trustworthy, and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional car rental services at train stations and airports. Using TravelCar, car owners can park for free at the airport and earn money by renting their car to other travellers.

The winner of the Start-up Competition and Showcase will be announced at the FTE Global Awards Ceremony at the Gala Evening, taking place at Omnia, Caesars Palace on Thursday, 7 September.

For more information about Future Travel Experience Global 2017, please visit: http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/fte-global/.

About JetBlue Technology Ventures

JetBlue Technology Ventures invests in, incubates and partners with early-stage start-ups at the intersection of technology and travel to improve the entire travel experience. The company prioritises investments that advance the customer-centric journey; technology-empowered customer service; the future of operations and maintenance; revenue management, sales & distribution; and new regional transport ecosystems. Founded in 2016, JetBlue Technology Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU and is located in Silicon Valley, California. For more information, visit JetBlueVentures.com.

About Future Travel Experience

Future Travel Experience (FTE) was established in 2006 and is an independent events and online media business dedicated to improving the end-to-end passenger experience. Having started with a standalone event in North America, FTE now hosts four annual events around the world – FTE Global, FTE Asia EXPO, FTE Europe and FTE Ancillary – which are attended by thousands of senior air transport, travel and technology industry figures each year. For more information, visit www.futuretravelexperience.com.

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