With the selection of the three big winners, as well as the audience's favorite team, the 4th cycle of CapsuleT's 5-month Acceleration Program was completed, at the Closing & Prize Giving Ceremony.

In the framework of the online event, the accelerator welcomed digitally prominent figures of the state and tourism, strategic partners, the judges and mentors of the cycle and of course the 11 startups that successfully completed the program.

The startups that conquered the Jury & Audience

The 3 startups of the 4th round that stood out and managed to earn a place on the CapsuleT podium were VIVESTIA, KLEESTO and UNLIMITED ADRENALINE.

In particular, the1st place and the prize money of 10,000 euros was won by VIVESTIA, in 2nd place was KLEESTO, receiving the amount of 5,000 euros and finally, the 3rd place of 3,000 euros was taken by the team of UNLIMITED ADRENALINE.

However, the prizes for the top three teams, courtesy of The People's Trust, CapsuleT: The tourism startups that stood out Specifically:

• PwC Greece offers free legal and tax support services to the 3 winning startups
• Programize offers consulting guidance on product development issues, while the 3 winners will have access to development services at preferential prices.
• Nelios offers the first winner free digital marketing services.

The startups were evaluated after their final presentation with the score submitted by CapsuleT's Evaluation and Mentoring Review. Key parameters for evaluating the startups that competed were:

• the idea as to its novelty
• the business maturity and perspective offered by the respective service/product
• the business maturity and perspective offered by the respective service/product
• its typical characteristics

During the evening the audience watching the event via live streaming had the opportunity to choose their favorite team based on the live presentation, presenting the 'Audience Award'. The winning team was KLEESTO, who won a three-night stay for 3 people at the Tharroe of Mykonos hotel in Mykonos.

The 11 teams that successfully completed the 5-month cycle 4 program are in alphabetical order: Culture App, Hotilities, Kleesto, Simplybook, The Local Favour, Ticketseller, Travel2Fit, Tripinwise, Unlimited Adrenaline, Upiria, Vivestia.

Alexandros Vassilikos: CapsuleT is as I had envisioned it

The first greeting of the evening was addressed by the President of the Hotel Chamber of Greece, Mr. Alexander Vasilikos. Mr Basilikos, thanking you very much both the state and the sponsors, strategic partners and judges/mentors of the Program for their valuable support and time, he emphasized among other things that «amid the difficulties of the time it is important that CapsuleT's work finds the synergies it needs, so as to present – both internally and externally – the new, different, face of the country through the specialized products of the accelerator groups and the synergy that exists in Greek tourism the synergy that exists in Greek tourism

At the same time, he referred to the accelerator's two-year project. “CapsuleT works exactly as I envisioned it from day one. It is a platform that activates hoteliers in the directions of technology. At the same time, it enables young people to express their creativity. Also to be able to find a foothold in Greek contexts and make sustainable startups in the field of tourism".

X.E.E. and CapsuleT, official supporters of Elevate Greece

The Deputy Minister of Research & Technology, Mr. Christos Dimas. First of all congratulations organizers, sponsors, mentors and teams. It was an important part of his speech the upcoming cooperation of X.E.E. and CapsuleT as Official Supporters of Elevate Greece, but also the expansion of the cooperation of the Ministry of Research & Technology with the accelerator, since the startups of Elevate Greece which active in tourism are the 2nd category in number, after life sciences.

The Deputy Minister had already announced in the last few days that the 'CapsuleT Travel & Hospitality Accelerator seeks to become the main 'vehicle' for the development and evolution of new, innovative business ideas, partnerships and business opportunities which they will help the innovation ecosystem to evolve, with a positive impact to Greek tourism and the country in general".

At this point Mr. Alexandros Vasilikos confirmed the official support that Elevate Greece will receive from X.E.E. and CapsuleT. As he stated "it is very important to let's get out of the purely touristic product and go to the agricultural and energy products, since they exist there too start-up companies with applications in the hotel and tourism industry".

Sophia Zacharaki: We need your suggestions

For her part, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ms. Sofia Zaharaki, taking the baton, thanked Mr. Alexandros Vasilikos for the opportunity to discuss Greek innovation and its integration in tourism education, as well as the Director of CapsuleT, Ms. Katerina Saridakis for the accelerator's events and the joy she was given to come into direct contact with tourism start-ups. Furthermore, Ms. Zaharaki subscribed to what Mr. Vassilikos mentioned above about coupling the primary & secondary sector with the creative services part of start-ups.

Finally, referring to the essential work of the accelerator, which connects the state with current and future developments in innovation, but also to the opportunities that innovation can provide in hospitality, the Deputy Minister of Tourism declared "ready together with the Minister of Tourism Mr. Vassilis Kikilia, to receive new proposals and strengthen their work, taking their message out, as happened at the WTM 2021 exhibition in London."

Ms. Cynthia Harvey, Director of Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Athens, also addressed a brief greeting. "We are happy for our cooperation with such an important initiative. We believe in the promotion and development of the tourism sector. We know well how this is an important part of the Greek economy. It's an opportunity to empower young industry leaders with the professional skills they need to succeed in the future.”

The audience was also greeted by Dr. Angeliki Kosmopoulou, Board member, The People's Trust. In a few words, he congratulated the 11 teams for their efforts and thanked the accelerator team for the new collaboration, expressing the desire to continue this collaboration in the future.

The 4th cycle of CapsuleT in numbers

In closing, the Director of CapsuleT, Ms. Katerina Saridaki congratulated all 11 teams for their 5-month journey in the Acceleration Programme of the 4th cycle, while she briefly mentioned that during the programme, a total of 14 workshops, a number of meetings were held in order to mentoring by mentors. Through all the actions and goals that the teams had set, they succeeded:

• to secure over 520 new partnerships
• to complete 78 pilots to leads
• to close 168 new b2b sales
• create 45 job positions

On-site visits / meetups in Crete and Athens

For another cycle an integral part of the program were the on-site visits. As well as the meetups of startups with hotels and successful companies in the tourism market. This gave them the opportunity to meet and discuss with representatives of the state and the tourism business. At the same time, they had the opportunity to present their technological products.

For the teams of the 4th cycle, "Brown Hotels", "Key Tours" and "The Alex, Monte Kastella" opened their doors in Athens. The startups were with the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Sofia Zacharaki in a special meetup on Thematic Tourism.

Special mention should be made of – for the first time – visit of CapsuleT and its teams to the hotels:

• Civitel Akali Hotel
• Santa Marina Beach Hotel
• Creta Palm και Oscar Suites & Village
• Agia Marina in Chania
• cactus royal spa & resist hottel in Heraklion

There, the start-ups of the circle had the opportunity to present their services / products in person, among others, with the Secretary General of GNTO, Mr. Dimitris Fragakis, representatives of the Chania and Heraklion Hoteliers Association and other entrepreneurs in the industry.

Among the unique meetups of this year's cycle could not but be included also The special meeting at New Hotel in Athens, between CapsuleT teams and the U.S. Embassy in Athens. During this the start-ups They presented their innovations on-stage. This meeting was attended by the U.S. Ambassador in Athens, Mr. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, U.S. Embassy officials in Athens and other guests.

Dynamic presence in International Tourism Exhibitions

Dynamic and active was the presence of the teams of the 4th cycle of CapsuleT in the field of International Tourism Exhibitions in November 2021. This is because they took part in two trade shows through the CapsuleT booth. "Philoxenia 2021" in Thessaloniki and "Xenia 2021" in Athens. Startups had the opportunity to let the visitors of each one know the tourist tech startup ecosystem of our country. As well as to offer business professionals in the industry technological solutions and advanced services.