SUNNYVALE,
Calif., May 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JetBlue
Ventures and Plug and Play Tech Center announce 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.
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.
"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," said Stephen
Snyder, Managing Director at JetBlue Ventures.
Amir Amidi,
Managing Director of Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality, said,
"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."
"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," said Woody Sears, CEO of Autio. "We're looking
forward to continuing the momentum built upon this
partnership."
You can download the Autio app on the Apple App
Store today for only $36 a year and
have unlimited access to all of their stories wherever you go.
Also, you can hear from Kevin
Costner directly on this partnership in his interview with
Travel+Leisure magazine.
How Autio's App
Works:
- Users download the app (available in the App Store) and sign up
for an account.
- Users can access the curated audio story collection once signed
in (guest accounts come with 5 free stories, while paid accounts at
$36/year feature unlimited
access).
- Once users enable location access, they are ready to explore
nearby stories. Once in-app, they can reveal hidden surroundings
with entertaining stories based on GPS location.
- While not traveling, users can still access the map of U.S.
stories and toggle to choose content based on their interests.
Explore additional Plug and Play case studies and
success stories.
About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting
start-ups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and
government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present
in 50+ locations across 5 continents. We offer corporate innovation
programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their
innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize
start-up acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to
drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in
hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant
Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more
information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com
About JetBlue Ventures
JetBlue Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of
JetBlue, invests in and partners with early-stage startups
innovating in the travel, transportation, and hospitality
industries. The company prioritizes investments that advance the
seamless customer-centric journey; reimagine the accommodation
experience; next-generation aviation operations and enterprise
tech; distribution, loyalty, and revenue management; and
sustainable travel. Founded in 2016, JetBlue Ventures is a
subsidiary of JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) located in Silicon Valley,
California. For more information,
visit www.JetBlueVentures.com.
Plug and Play Contact
Kaycee
Antosiak
k.antosiak@pnptc.com
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