The new startups teams that managed to gather the highest score and were selected by the Evaluation and Steering Committee to join the 6th cycle of the Programme
Accelerator (September 2023 - February 2024), welcomed at its premises, the accelerator of the Capsule T Travel & Hospitality Accelerator last Tuesday, September 5.

At the opening event of the 6th cycle, in a special live "Welcoming Event", the first to welcome the startups on stage was the President of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Mr. Alexander Vassilikos stressing that: "During the 4 years of operation of the accelerator we have the pleasure to see. significant numbers in terms of the number of participating startup teams and their achievements in relation to the the creation of new jobs, the rapid growth of their network of partners and clientele, as well as the development of partnerships between Capsule T and players in the wider ecosystem of the tourism and innovation. We see to develop and evolve a vibrant and dynamic community, which highlights the talents of the country's young people, innovative thinking and close cooperation through synergies between startup ecosystem, hoteliers, tourism representatives, local associations. An extremely timely example was the mobilisation of the winning company of 2023 of Capsule T, Deliverback for its cooperation with XEE and the Rhodes Hotel Association for the return of luggage to individual tourists who were forced to evacuate the island -and government agencies such as the Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourism Organisation."

The President of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels and Restaurants, closing his greeting, thanked the Capsule T team and the members of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, as well as all the sponsors, mentors and supporters and the Jury of the new cycle for their substantial contribution.

The baton was passed to the director of Capsule T, Ms. Katerina Saridaki, addressing the audience thanked their sponsors and their strategic partners of the accelerator, but also the older startup teams who attended the event and stated: "Capsule T is not just about completing cycles and competitions and moving on to the next project, it has a primary purpose of building a a dynamic collaborative community where startups, hoteliers, tourism professionals and tourism and business operators can work together, discuss and collaborate together on new solutions and ways forward. At the same time, and as we have mentioned in the past, we believe that the extroversion through both our participation in major international tourism exhibition events such as WTM London, Fitur Madrid and ITB Berlin, as well as partnerships with foreign institutions and networks, will lead us to our biggest goal, the recognition of our country as a hub of innovative solutions for our industry".

After the presentations, the startups that joined the program took the floor, and had the opportunity to briefly present their business proposal to the members of the Capsule T community that were present in the space. A key part of this event was, of course, the acquaintance and the live first contact of the new groups with representatives of the state and the X.E.E., with mentors and peer reviewers, strategic partners and sponsors of the accelerator, but also with other members of the Greek tourism ecosystem, with whom they exchanged views, while clarifying the content of the 5-month programme.

The teams of the 6th cycle

In particular, the groups that joined the new acceleration cycle are the following:

• 4Power ECO
• ASKLEPIEIA HEALTH CLUSTER SA
• Axiom Group S.M.P.C. - Travelr
• BOOZEmeAPP
• Greece no limits
• HostBot
• mystery pot

What the Acceleration Programme offers

The Acceleration Programme is offered to the selected teams free of charge and without any other financial requirements (e.g. equity or shares from their company).

Its duration is 5 months, during which the selected start-ups - in addition to their participation in the programme - can use the accelerator's premises free of charge, with the possibility of extending the period of use for at least 3 months of additional use after the end of the programme.

The programme includes actions that are continuously enriched according to current market needs and developments, such as:

• workshops/seminars and
• mentoring meetings (mentoring)

An important part is also:

• presentation opportunities and meetups with tourism executives
• visits to hotels and leading travel agencies (on-site visits),
• but also the networking activities through the presence in networking events

In addition, outward-looking activities - through conferences and participation in exhibitions and delegations in Greece and abroad - constitute another pillar of the programme, in order to effectively connect the startup teams with prominent representatives of the Greek and global tourism market.

Which companies will support the startups

It should be noted that the The 6th cycle of the Acceleration Programme will take place -as always- with the valuable assistance and sponsorship of Google as gold sponsor of the programme, participating in parallel with the educational workshops and mentoring, of the non-profit organization The People's Trust, which will support for the third consecutive year the further development of technology startups in the tourism industry and will support the competitive part of the program by offering the cash prizes for the 3 winners, as well as Aegean Airlines as the official airline of the teams.

NBG Business Seeds, Nelios, PwC Greece, TÜV AUSTRIA Hellas, Programize and Investing For Purpose are also important and active strategic partners of the accelerator's activities.

At the same time, the Capsule T team is once again joining forces with renowned startups of the tourism market such as Clio Muse Tours, Ferryhopper, Triparound, Welcome Pickups, Workathlon and Wooftogether, which joined the program as community partners. Finally, Douwe Egberts/Foodrinco will be a supporter for the supply of coffee products.