Softinn comes out tops at WIT Startup Pitch in Tokyo

By Digital News Asia June 16, 2017

Offers a cloud-based hotel reservation system for small- and medium-sized hotels
Managed to execute and grow their business with only US$225,000 in funding

Softinn comes out tops at WIT Startup Pitch in Tokyo

SOFTINN Solutions Sdn Bhd, a travel technology company offering a cloud-based hotel reservation system for small- and medium-sized hotels, has won the Startup of the Year award at the WIT Startup Pitch in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the WIT Japan & North Asia 2017 Conference.

This year’s Pitch, powered by Amadeus Next, saw Softinn picked to present at the semi-finals on June 8 from more than 30 submissions. The Grand Final Pitch took place the day after.

As the winner, Softinn received a trophy, a ticket to attend the flagship WIT Conference Singapore in October, a ticket to attend the Phocuswright Conference in Florida in November, as well as an enrolment to the Amadeus Mentorship Programme.

Softinn founder Jason JeeShen Lee said, “We are humbled by the recognition. Winning the WIT Startup Pitch competition helps boost our confidence in serving small and independent hotels. We thank WIT and Amadeus for making our dream come true.

“The WIT Startup Pitch was an excellent platform for us to introduce Softinn to international conference delegates and judges. We admit it was not easy when we were up against startups from Japan, Korea and other countries but we gave our best.”

Amadeus Asia Pacific Corporate Strategy and Business Development vice president Simon Akeroyd said, “Softinn has found a sweet spot targeting small to mid-sized hotels. The hotel industry in the Asia Pacific has a very long tail of small and independent properties and startups like Softinn catering specifically to them are a win-win on both ends.

“What stood out about Softinn during the pitch was their dedication towards perfecting their product. They took feedback seriously and built on it. In fact, one of the reasons they won was because they showed the biggest improvement over the course of the pitch.

“We commend them for this and congratulate them for the well-deserved win. We look forward to helping them develop their ideas and grow their business through our mentorship programme.”

Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder, WIT, which has been running travel startup competitions in Asia for the past eight years, said, “I first met the Softinn team about three years ago and thought they had a good idea to solve the pain points of small and medium-sized hotels in Asia which account for the majority of room inventory in our region.”

“That they’ve been able to execute so well and grow their business despite being bootstrapped from the start – their presentation showed they’ve managed so far with only US$225,000 in funding – is impressive and shows the determination and passion of the founders.

“What I liked personally was that during the final pitch, Softinn not only talked about their product but also the outcome of what their product could do for travellers – enabling them to discover in-destination experiences that small and medium-sized hotels can offer – and this all adds up to supporting the diversity of travel.”

Softinn Solutions is an emerging travel technology company that developed a cloud-based hotel

reservation system for small- and medium-sized hotels. Headquartered in Malacca, Malaysia, Softinn also creates and manages LetsGoHoliday.my, a marketplace for hotels as well as a portal for travellers to discover hotels that fit their needs.

Softinn Solutions is an investee company of Intres Capital Partners via its maiden venture capital fund, Axiata Digital Innovation Fund (ADIF), a corporate venture capital fund backed by Axiata Group, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd and Johor Corporation.