Kaspersky Exploring Russia tourism accelerator

Within scouting process, 511 applications were attracted from startups of 47 countries, from among which 10 finalists – participants of the accelerator – were selected. As part of the selection of the finalists, both an extramural examination and online pitch sessions were organized. GoTech Innovation team formed the schedule and topics of the workshops and attracted mentors from Booking.com, Amadeus, Zamato, Russia Discovery, venture funds like TMT Investments, Sunfish Partners, Starta Ventures, Propeller Shannon, and others. In total, 11 online workshops and more than 150 individual meetings with 12 mentors took place within the framework of the tourism accelerator. GoTech Innovation also negotiated with Amadeus, Propeller Shannon, Starta Ventures, which established special prizes for accelerator participants in addition to the prizes established by Kaspersky Lab. Partnership network of more than 20 companies from 8 countries was created for information support.

To implement the project, preparatory work was carried out, including the development of a website, preparation of information materials for a promotional campaign, development of an online questionnaire for accepting applications using the TechScout platform. TechScout is a startup database platform developed by GoTech Innovation. 

At the end of the Kaspersky Exploring Russia accelerator, an online Demo Day was organized, following which three main winners and winners of partner nominations were selected and awarded.

Winners:

I place – 360 Stories – USA (Travel Tech) — Interactive Live Tours using real-time guides in VR and AR

II place – MAPS.ME – Russia (Travel Tech) — #1 maps for travelers with over 140M installs globally

III place – Altourism – Russia (Sustainability) — community development in Russian

Partner nominations winners:

Amadeus awarded MAPS.ME (Russia), Routitude (Russia) in Travel Tech, Accesstravels (Israel) in Social Tech, Propeller Shannon awarded 360 Stories (USA), Altourism (Russia), Starta Ventures awarded MAPS.ME (Russia).

511 teams from 189 cities and 47 countries participated in the Kaspersky Exploring Russia tourism accelerator. More than 50 startups were selected as semi-finalists and were given the opportunity to present their ideas at online pitch sessions. Based on the results of the pitch sessions, the experts selected 10 companies to participate in the 2-week online accelerator, where they attended 11 workshops and had more than 150 individual meetings with mentors from Kaspersky Lab, Booking.com, Amadeus, Zamato, Russia Discovery, TMT Investments, Sunfish Partners, Starta Ventures, Propeller Shannon, Amadeus and others. Based on the results of the Demo Day, which ends the accelerator, the jury selected 3 main winners and winners of special nominations established by Starta Ventures, Propeller Shannon, and Amadeus.