8 Most Remarkable Travel App and Online Platform Startups in Canada

It certainly seems like we are in an era where travelling is a common trend. We can’t wait to book our next vacation to Greece or Iceland or even Dubai. The obvious problem with wanting to travel so much is the expenses and organizing the whole affair. Luckily nowadays technology plays a large role in how we travel. This is where the eTravel market comes into play. This allows people to find great deals and book their ideal travel experiences through online platforms and mobile applications. The worldwide revenue of the eTravel market in 2017 was at 675.8 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to grow to 1,015.3 billion by 2022.  

To keep up with the growing interests of the public, Canada has come out with some pretty intriguing and remarkable travel app and online platform startups. We decided to highlight some of the most compelling ideas including finding landmarks using augmented reality, booking and tracking reasonable flight and accommodation prices, discovering new cycling routes in different destinations, a property sharing and ridesharing platform and providing tour and activity companies with efficient booking software.

1. Terra Icons: Finding Landmarks Using AR

According to the team: “All cities have landmarks or points of interest that help identify them, and that shouldn’t be missed. Use this app to find these landmarks quickly. Find these more easily by viewing their “real” location on your phone’s camera viewer. Just open the app and wait for the icons to pop up on the screen (for supported cities). This is a great aid for walking tours, searching for metro (public transportation) and bicycle stations. The platform covers more than 60 cities worldwide!”

Location: Montreal
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile

2. Hopper: Tracking Prices and Booking Travel

According to the team: “Hopper is the smart way to book travel on your phone. Combining massive amounts of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper predicts and analyzes airfare and accommodation to save users money and enable them to travel more often. Since its launch in 2015, Hopper has become one of the fastest growing travel apps ever with over 25 million installs to date. It is now the most downloaded flights booking app in North America and travellers have booked hundreds of millions of dollars in flights and hotels around the world using Hopper.”

Location: Montreal
Employees: 51 – 200
Website
Angel List Profile

3. Betterez: Reservation and Ticketing Management Platform

According to the team: “Betterez offers flexible, scalable cloud-based enterprise software solutions for the Reservation and Ticketing Management (RTM) space, designed for travel, transportation and admissions companies who want to increase their direct sales and provide a streamlined user experience. We understand that for our customers, reservations and ticketing systems are mission critical. As such, our reservation and ticketing management solution is built with the latest technologies, enterprise-grade level security, and proprietary automation tools to help customers sell more, sell easier, operate more efficiently and improve the customer experience. Betterez showcases booking engines across a multitude of portals in a mobile, paperless, social, and cost-effective way.”

Location: Toronto
Website
LinkedIn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s_PwOojBto

4. CycleMap: Discover New Cycling Routes

According to the team: “Here at CycleMap we’re all about adventure and discovery! We’re a bunch of cycling enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies on a mission to make cycling even more accessible to the world. We want to make sure that everyone gets the most out of every ride, which is why we’ve basically mapped everything out for you with CycleMap. What are you waiting for? Get out there and discover the world, one bike ride at a time! CycleMap lets you discover new cycling routes based on your fitness level, your mood or your location at the touch of a button. It learns from your habits and rides to become your cycling pal. Wherever you are on the planet, CycleMap will find the perfect ride for you.”

Location: Quebec City
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile

5. Adventure Bucket List: Booking Software for Tour and Activity Companies

According to the team: “We know how time-consuming coordinating reservations with travellers can be. Save money and increase sales by allowing travellers to book through your website 24/7. Agenda – Booking software for tour and activity vendors. Hosts – Accommodation booking software for alternative lodging (ie. fishing lodges). Affiliate – 3rd party distribution platform and commission tracking for agents, OTA’s and concierges. Destination Management Platform – All encompassing enterprise platform for tourism bureaus and DMO’s.”

Location: Vancouver
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile

6. Keycafe: Accessible and Low-Cost Sharing Property Access

According to the team: “Keycafe makes it easy to share the keys to your home or rental property. Let guests, friends and family into your home without having to be there. By using local cafes as a secure and welcoming location for your guests, Keycafe provides an accessible and low-cost method to sharing property access without the need for expensive hardware and installation.”

Location: Vancouver
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile

7. Kangaride: Ridesharing Platform

According to the team: “Kangaride is a ridesharing platform for posting and booking long-distance rides anywhere in North America. Through Kangaride’s online and mobile platform, drivers and passengers connect to rideshare together. Drivers post their rides and the empty seats in their vehicle, and passengers search for rides and book a seat in the one that gets them where they need to go. Kangaride has over 200,000 members and thousands of rides booked each week. Kangaride has a three-pronged approach to making ridesharing safer. All drivers have their licenses validated by transportation authorities before their ride is posted. All rides are rated by the driver and passengers and drivers’ overall ratings are visible to passengers before booking. Kangaride’s world-class customer service team does quality control on all new members and is available to assist members 365 days a year. Kangaride operates in French under the name AmigoExpress.”

Location: Montreal
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile

8. Tripstack: Access to Traditional and Low-Cost Flight Carrier Itineraries

According to the team: “We are a well-capitalized tech startup based in downtown Toronto working on solutions to complex problems in the Travel Industry. Billions of flight combinations all in a single API. Tripstack’s purpose is to provide our customers with all 100,000 direct flights and the billions of missing itineraries in one search offering all options at the lowest possible price. Our Universal Flight API provides access to the most comprehensive inventory of traditional & low-cost carriers allowing us to create billions of flight itineraries not available to other Travel Companies. Additionally, we utilize the cloud to enable a global distributed in-memory cache allowing us to serve content quickly while protecting your website from traffic spikes and robotic scraping. Our Yield Management Solutions enable the automation of revenue and yielding decisions as well as A/B testing of prices across various digital channels.”

Location: Toronto
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile

I don’t know about you but I caught a travel bug reading about all these efficient and compelling travel apps and online platform startups in Canada. Are you ready to book your next trip? Let’s go! Don’t forget to read up on more interesting and innovative startups in Canada on our blog.