Marcus Richards
The hospitality industry is a key segment of the thriving start-up ecosystem in New York City, where food, technology and innovation meet. A number of standout hospitality start-ups launched in 2020. Innovations span from improving travel solutions to providing health consultation services, broadening food and beverages marketplace, offering premium networking opportunities, to enhancing leisure recommendations, providing family-oriented remote learning platforms and more. Let’s take a closer look at some of these exciting startups.
Founded by Rob Karp, Travel Solutions USA is dedicating effort and resources in building a better travel experience for its clientele. Despite being a newly-founded start-up, the company has already established a solid presence in the Hospitality and Information Services industry.
In response to the health crisis brought about by the pandemic, Executive Covid Testing was founded to provide COVID-19 testing and free health consultation services for individuals and corporate clients. The company effectively combines Healthcare, Health Diagnostics, Medical and Hospitality industries.
IMBIBE AI is revolutionizing the Food and Beverage industry by creating a comprehensive marketplace for all business and consumer-based transactions related to on and off premise consumption.
A trust in creativity led to the launch of Wahter Studio, a private members’ network for people in creative fields with network offices in Tokyo, London, Paris, and New York. The global creative force has an in-house ideation studio focused on special creative projects and consultation.
Seek, founded by Giff Carter and Shanna Liu, is a content platform built to connect tastemakers in the consumer leisure space with millions of consumers seeking trusted recommendations on where to eat, drink and spend their leisure time.
Father Karl Chong founded a space where families could learn and play, hence the birth of Cocoon. Located in the heart of Tribeca, Cocoon offers courses designed to guide all members through family life as their children grow.
Paul Kromidas and Woods Buckley believes owning a vacation home should be accessible to more than just a small percentage of people. Hence, they founded Summer to reduce friction in the process of owning a vacation home.
Creating thoughtful restaurant and hospitality concepts, culinary experiences, and food products in physical and digital spaces is the brainchild of David Rodolitz, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Josh Capon. The result was the inception of VCR Group, focusing on consumer-centric experiences through unmatched hospitality.
Father Kamil Gaynutdinov developed Apollo iGDS, Inc., the world’s only fully neutral, non-affiliated, advanced B2B platform simplifying sourcing and booking for travel agencies and corporate travel departments through the most comprehensive network of carriers in air, on land and water.
Jono and Michael Schafler, founded InHouse, another promising start-up in the Hospitality industry.
Nicole Caba launched Avvinue, a pet travel start-up that helps people search and book pet-friendly flights, hotels, activities and more. It specifically caters to pet owners who regularly travel with their pets.
New York continues to buzz with innovative startups, particularly in the hospitality and service industries. These companies are not only reinventing their respective spaces but are also creating solutions that seamlessly meld technology with everyday human needs. Here’s to looking forward to the rest of 2022 and the pioneering ideas these start-ups will bring into the world.
