Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) unveils Goa Tourism Accelerator 2022
The startup ecosystem consists of many stakeholders like the Government and policy makers, industry experts, investors and community builders. But the essential component is the founders in the ecosystem and the support that they are getting to nurture their innovation.
The last few years have also seen the evolution of prominent representative bodies that play a critical role in ensuring that the startup founders receive the support that they need at various stages of the startup journey.
FiiRE – Forum of incubation, Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship, has been one of the key participants in the Goa start-up story, with a mandate of helping TourismTech startups to accelerate and grow their innovative organisations.
From startup to take-off, FiiRE is amongst the premier TourismTech accelerators in the country and pursues the objective of supporting tech founders to design and scale TourismTtech innovations in various segments including travel, hospitality, sustainability, mobility, operational efficiency, new payment solutions, amongst others. FiiRE Goa combines its rich experience in start-up incubation with industry experts in the field of tourism and tourism technology to provide a robust ecosystem for acceleration and support of TourismTech startups.
It offers start-ups with the platform, knowhow and access to various forms of financing – including non-equity financing. Their flagship support initiatives include the Accelerator Program, Founder Club, International Market Access and Virtual Programs.
In September 2021, FiiRE conducted the first Goa Tourism Accelerator, with a view to attract and support startup entrepreneurs in the TourismTech space.
Goa Tourism Accelerator 2021 was a 16-week accelerator program for startup founders who are developing solutions to future-proof the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. This program helped them with GTM strategy to apply their solution to the industry for the first time.
During the first edition of the Accelerator Program, 14 startups were handheld to success from the 50+ applications received from across the globe. These 14 startups included technological innovations in various areas – waste management, customer experience, new payment solutions, mobility, and sustainability, among others.
Rethinking tourism, especially in the period of climate change and global warming essentially involves facilitating, asking the right questions for effective solutions, which is what FiiRE dreams to achieve with this 16-week Tourism Accelerator Program. The startups identified for acceleration needed to fulfil specific parameters to be eligible for acceleration at FiiRE.
Startups that emerged from the Goa Tourism Cohort 2021 are Digitour, (Auxbrains Ventures Pvt Ltd ) Momingly, Srishti Lifescience Private Limited, Zodhya, Tyndis, Campper, Instio, Revio, Highway delite, hav.life, TravStack, Offbeat Tracks, Lokaso Media and 10Times.
At FiiRE, it is well acknowledged that along with mobility, operational efficiencies, fintech solutions, media tech innovations and customer-centric experience powered by technology, sustainability remains at the forefront of all innovation in the tourism sector.
In December 2022, FiiRE has announced the Goa Tourism Accelerator Cohort 2. This has been announced for startup founders developing solutions for future-proofing the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. The second edition of the Goa Tourism Accelerator for 2022 is expected to give a big-push to the tourism sector and empower its stakeholders. This 12-week accelerator program is designed to help redefine the Go-To-Market strategy for startups with some traction or help them apply their solution to the industry for the first time.
