elysium® wins the 1st Start-Up Elevator Pitch of the fvw Travel Talk

It was an exciting competition full of creative ideas, and we are over the moon: elysium® has won the big fvw|TravelTalk Elevator Pitch!  With our innovative approach to overcoming language barriers in tourism, we impressed the audience and the jury alike.

The elevator pitch - innovation for tourism

On 26 November 2024, the fvw|TravelTalk Elevator Pitch, initiated in cooperation with the Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e.V. (VIR), brought six of the tourism industry's most innovative start-ups onto one stage. Each start-up had seven minutes to present its concept and show how it can enrich, simplify or make the travel industry more sustainable.

The competition, which took place for the first time in this form, was broadcast live and gave the audience the opportunity to vote directly for their favourite. Viewers were able to cast their votes until December - and with 161 votes in favour, we were able to beat the other participants!

Our solution: Simple. Digital. Cross-lingual.

In our pitch, we showed how elysium® is revolutionising the way group tours and conferences are organised:

• No effort, maximum benefit: Participants simply scan a QR code or enter a PIN - no app download or registration required.
• Multilingual communication: Our live translation feature enables guided tours and events to be organised in several languages simultaneously, without additional hardware.
• Flexible and scalable: Whether small groups or large events - elysium® adapts to any group size and format.
• Cost-efficient and sustainable: No expensive equipment, no logistics - everything runs via the users' smartphones.

With our intuitive and accessible solution, we solve one of the biggest challenges in the industry: overcoming language barriers.

The competition: strong ideas that inspire

We are particularly proud to have prevailed in such a strong field of participants. The other five start-ups also impressed with their impressive concepts:

• Squake.earth: Develops solutions to reduce CO₂ in the travel sector and supports companies in acting more sustainably.
• Zaubar: Uses augmented reality to create immersive and interactive experiences in tourism.
• 1-CP: A B2B payment solution that makes corporate payments more secure and efficient.
• Fanz: Rethinks payment processes by linking them to value-added services such as loyalty programmes.
• Trippika: Revolutionises the booking process with a user-centric platform that guarantees intuitive workflows.

The originally planned participation of Adigi, a start-up for automated service processes, unfortunately had to be cancelled at short notice. Nevertheless, the field of participants was strong with six start-ups and demonstrated the innovative strength of the industry.

About fvw|TravelTalk and the VIR

fvw has been one of the leading specialist media brands in the travel industry for decades. It offers up-to-date industry analyses, exciting trends and innovative formats such as the Elevator Pitch. Together with VIR - the association that promotes digital innovations in tourism - a space has been created where start-ups can present their ideas and make important contacts.

The Elevator Pitch is more than just a competition - it is a stage for the future of tourism, a place where fresh ideas and technologies meet industry experts. And not just during the pitch. Great contacts were also made and ideas spun among the participants.

What's next?

Winning the Elevator Pitch is a huge milestone for us, but our journey has only just begun! We are continuing to work on making elysium® known worldwide and actively shaping the future of tourism. A big thank you goes to fvw|TravelTalk, VIR, the jury and of course all the viewers who gave us their vote. Your support means everything to us and motivates us to continue to achieve great things. Stay tuned - we're still writing the best chapters of our story! 

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