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- Summit's over, inbox is full, let's dive in
Summit's over, inbox is full, let's dive in
(still processing last week tbh)
Hi there,
You know that feeling when something you've been planning finaaally happens? and it's actually amazing?
That was last week. ✨
The FutureTravel Summit 2025 went down, and honestly, it exceeded everything we hoped for. Not because we're great at throwing events (!) but because we gathered some of the smartest people building travel tech right now.
My job is pretty simple: bring people together, tell their stories, give them the spotlight they deserve. And then I just... connect some dots and get out of the way. That's the whole thing.
One of my favorite moments? The pitch competition.
This year the competition it was intense. 10 amazing startups took the stage, the jury had a ridiculously close vote, and ReLUGG walked away with a €350k prize package. The German startup tackles one of travel's most frustrating problems (delayed or missing bags) by getting essentials to passengers within 30 minutes of landing.
I’m still catching up with my inbox and processing last week. But anyway. I’m so grateful for everyone who showed up and made it real <3
The FutureTravel Summit happens once a year, but this newsletter goes out every week - let's get back to it!
THE GREAT REBRAND WAVE
I was ready to slowly get back into content mode, but then Perk happened, and others used WTM to drop their own news. Something’s in the air 😅
It started with TravelPerk’s visual refresh last March, where they ditched corporate blue for a bright green. And now they went all in: TravelPerk became Perk dropping "travel" from their name entirely, as they now go beyond business travel into a full spend management platform.
Avi Meir (CEO) doesn’t do fluff & small talk. Went straight to the big picture:
💬 “Every founder dreams of building something that outlives them. For me, Perk is that opportunity to take everything we've learned and turn it into a company built to last a century. What drives me now is building technology that makes work better for everyone.”
Read again: built to last a century.
Not the next round, not the exit, not the IPO. A 100 years.
Very ambitious, but safe to say Perk doesnt fit in a box only called “travel management” anymore. They are tackling what they call shadow work - all those invisible admin tasks we all hate. They’ve launched AI-native spend tools, physical cards, and are setting up dual HQs in Boston and London while passing $300M in annual revenue.
Meanwhile, Go Global Travel became Yanolja Go Global, aligning with Yanolja Group’s mission to build a global travel tech ecosystem. We just had Jeff Kim on stage last week talking about leaning deep into tech, data and AI, so the timing couldn’t be better.
And Cloudbeds changed their look. The change is not subtle but the announcement still is. There is not much official announcements out there yet about the refresh, but it’s a clear brand update.
So why all this movement? and why now? 2 things I keep coming back to…
The idea of escaping the category ceiling keeps coming up. When your name locks you into one vertical, you cap your story and your growth. These rebrands are a way out of those narrow boxes; not to walk away from travel, but to stop being boxed in by it. Travel doesn’t happen in a vacuum anyway.
There’s also the aesthetic of ambition, the idea that a rebrand is a declaration. The shift from corporate blue to vibrant green, from “business travel” to “real work”… it’s all speaking to a new generation of decision-makers who expect consumer-grade experiences at work. When founders talk about building companies to last a century (like Avi at Perk), the rebrand is how they show that ambition in public.
There’s definitely more of this coming. Rebrands are never easy (or cheap), and i don’t think no one does it for fun - they happen when a company’s ready to move on. Feels like travel tech is there too, rethinking its role in the wider industry - and what it wants to stand for next.
FUNDING SPOTLIGHT
Tunisian startup WildyNess closed a strategic pre-seed round. They're building a sustainable travel marketplace focused on community-based tourism, connecting conscious travelers with authentic local experiences co-created with micro-entrepreneurs.
They've generated over $300,000 in sales since their 2022 launch with zero paid marketing spend - that's product-market fit. The funding will fuel their expansion into Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE. This is reportedly the first (and only!) pre-seed round for a B2C/B2B2C travel marketplace in North Africa's travel tech ecosystem - always a fresh reminder that innovation isn't just happening in the usual spots.
That’s it for this week.
I’m still riding the high from the event and trying to get through a mountain of follow-ups, but… what a moment for travel tech!
Thanks for reading, for showing up, and for being part of this community that keeps moving the industry forward 🚀
See you next week,
Ana
Thank you for reading until the end.
The content of this newsletter is curated and published by Ana Metz, an innovation expert, passionate about technology and excited about the future of travel.
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