easyJet Partners with Founders Factory to Disrupt Travel With Fintech

The airline easyJet has teamed up with the London-based Founders Factory as the incubator attempts to create 200 successful startups within the next five years, reports City A.M .

The accelerator and incubator, Founders Factory, created by the developers of Lastminute.com, Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox, has set itself a mammoth task: develop 200 startups over the next five years across six sectors.

In order to do this, it needs the backing of companies that believe in its mission.

One such company is Britain’s popular low-cost airline, easyJet, which has become the latest backer of Founders Factory.

easyJet to Disrupt the Travel Sector

Founded in 1995 and with its headquarters at London Luton Airport, the airline company flies to 134 destinations, fuelling consumer demand for low-cost air travel.

Now, in a bid to find the next best thing in travel technology, easyJet has made a multimillion-pound investment into Founders Factory.

In a five-year deal, easyJet will invest in and help five startup companies, in addition to creating two new companies every year alongside Founders Factory.

According to easyJet chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall, by connecting easyJet with the next generation of entrepreneurs it will boost fresh thinking that will present new opportunities for the travel industry.

 

Brent Hoberman said:

We are confident that together we can support the next generation of innovators in travel leveraging digital scale, data, personalisation, virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI), ecommerce breakthroughs and fintech.

 

easyJet joins the likes of Aviva for FinTech and L’Oreal for beauty technology and China’s Scholarship Council (CSC) to help startups working on AI.

Other travel companies taking a stand include FlightDelay, a new Ethereum-based smart contact DApp. Last month CCN.com reported that the company was changing the claiming compensation process from the lengthy task it currently is, into a short form, thus helping travelers.

Not only that, but Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder and billionaire entrepreneur, who has been reported as stating that he would accept bitcoin for space travel, said recently at an event in London that the blockchain technology could create an ‘economic revolution’ to numerous countries.

The U.K. Blockchain Races Ahead of the U.S.

With the advent of blockchain technology and FinTech, the travel industry is not the only sector that is focusing on startups.

When it comes to the FinTech race between the U.K. and the U.S., the U.K. is racing ahead after the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) accepted 24 applicants to take part in its FinTech sandbox.

A recent house bill in the U.S., though, has been introduced that aims to prevent financial businesses from moving to the U.K. From the 24 accepted, seven came from payment firms, including blockchain organizations.

Featured image from Shutterstock.