JetBlue Ventures, Plug and Play partnership yield successful outcome in travel and hospitality industry

JetBlue Ventures and Plug and Play Tech Center announced that their partnership has once again been successful in fostering innovation and growth in the travel industry. Their partnership aims to increase collaboration in the travel tech industry as both companies discover and pair startups with commercial aviation business opportunities. Through this collaboration, they were able to create an impactful partnership between travel startup Autio, a location-based audio story app, and JetBlue.

JetBlue Ventures and Plug and Play have partnered together over the last seven years to support travel-related technologies and drive innovation. As part of their relationship, Plug and Play operates a Travel & Hospitality Program, which has allowed JetBlue to meet promising startups in the travel and hospitality sector. To support this program, JetBlue Ventures leverages its industry expertise and resources to help startups in the program succeed while also gaining access to cutting-edge technologies and ideas that can enhance the JetBlue customer experience.

Stephen Snyder, Managing Director, JetBlue Ventures: ''One of the many benefits of JetBlue Ventures' partnership with Plug and Play is our ability to facilitate connections between startups and a larger corporate company. Autio's partnership with JetBlue is an outstanding example of this. Such successes are what make our partnership with Plug and Play so effective.''

Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program has already seen great success in connecting startups with corporate partners in the travel industry. Autio was one of the startups that participated in the Winter 2022 Program, and after evaluating their product, JetBlue determined that they would be a good fit for a pilot run in their in-flight entertainment department.

Initially launched in 2020, Autio offers an extensive library of 10,000+ stories across the entire United States and uses GPS to serve up stories based on geographic location. While many users listen to the stories on road trips, many more are using the app in other settings like walks or even traveling virtually from home. Through its partnership with JetBlue, US-domestic travelers will be able to choose Autio stories based on their flight location for the next twelve months. With over 250 stories available in 29 American destinations, customers can listen to the history of their next destination while looking out their window.

Amir Amidi, Managing Director of Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality: "These sorts of partnerships are exactly what our accelerator program is about. We love working with innovative companies like JetBlue Ventures who are eager to offer new and engaging benefits to their travelers and innovative startups like Autio who can adapt their B2C business to reach new audiences."

Woody Sears, CEO, Autio: "Being part of Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program gave Autio an incredible opportunity to partner with JetBlue on our first in-flight integration. As a startup, having the support from Plug and Play has been invaluable as it opened the door for growth beyond our consumer subscription business and into enterprise deals and clients. We're looking forward to continuing the momentum built upon this partnership."

www.plugandplaytechcenter.com
www.jetblueventures.com