Founded this year, this start-up recently received the Best Pitch Award at the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers programme.
The global leisure travel market has been growing over the last few years, with the market being valued at $1.2trn in 2023 and predicted to reach $6.2trn by 2033.
Growing within this sector is solo travel. According to statistics compiled by the Flash Packer, 76pc of travellers have either travelled alone or are considering doing so. While some people may be instantly enticed by the prospect of travelling alone, others may have reservations due to concerns over safety and the stress of planning solo.
Hoping to quell those concerns is our latest Start-up of the Week – SoloBook.
SoloBook is an AI-powered and community driven travel platform that aims to help solo travellers with planning and booking trips safely, and was founded this year by Pierre Yimbog and Rachael Aluko. Yimbog, who is the CEO, is also a co-founder and COO of Black and Irish, an advocacy community group established in 2020.
How it works
SoloBook’s target customer is women, who comprise 84pc of solo travellers. While women make up a considerable portion of solo travellers, research has indicated that a common concern for women is personal safety, and SoloBook’s platform hopes to mitigate these concerns.
SoloBook uses AI to summarise travel reviews and information, structuring them into categories such as safety and cultural etiquette, with the goal of saving time and effort, while enhancing confidence in planning.
“Our structured reviews enable solo travellers to share their experiences and provide up-to-date guidance and a reliable community of like-minded travellers, while offering personalised recommendations and rewards for users,” says Yimbog.
While SoloBook is currently focused on women, Yimbog says that the company intends to serve other demographics in the future such as ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQI+ community, so that “all solo travellers will no longer be concerned for their safety, overwhelmed by the amount of information and find the best value for anywhere they choose to travel”.
How it’s going
The start-up recently launched a prototype MVP (minimum viable product), which was developed using an innovation voucher and with the support of a researcher and developer in IADT Dún Laoghaire.
“This was released earlier in September with great feedback to date on the information the AI is summarising and the categories it covers, in particular cultural etiquette and transport,” says Yimbog.
“We plan to ramp up user testing with as many solo travellers, as well as engaging pre-graduate students as they can provide valuable insights in the further development of our product as they consider embarking on a solo trip post college.”
While the company has been making steady progress, Yimbog says it hasn’t been without its challenges. He says that the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to develop the product without a technical co-founder and with limited knowledge of AI. While this is an ongoing challenge, Yimbog says the start-up recently benefitted from two master’s students who assisted the project during the summer.
“The other challenge, as with all start-ups, is bootstrapping as much as you can and making most use of the limited resources. This includes time to do as much market research, user testing and marketing to get as much reach and engagement with prospective travellers.”
Despite these challenges, Yimbog credits the start-up scene in Ireland – and Dublin especially – with providing his team with the resources and opportunities they need. “I’ve been amazed at the different programmes on offer, events to attend and networks to join to tap into the ecosystem for support and advice,” he says.
Last month, the start-up completed this year’s Phase 2 New Frontiers programme, which was delivered by IADT Media Cube in partnership with NovaUCD, where it received the Best Pitch Award.
As for the future, Yimbog and SoloBook are pressing forward and are currently working on an Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Start Fund application for €100,000, while also searching for “other funding opportunities that can help with the next development of the prototype and building our team to be able to launch our full product into the market”.
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