Seatfrog - upgraded travel made easy
by Startacus Admin
Seatfrog are aiming to make upgraded travel a painless, even pleasurable process, with their app that allows users to bid in an auction for an upgraded seat.
Sometimes, we like a bit of luxury when we travel. Sometimes, we only decide this after we’ve booked our seat in economy class next to the livestock. Unfortunately, not 
everyone we travel with is as accommodating to our whims as we would like, and the process of upgrading is not always a simple or inexpensive one.
With offices in London, Tokyo, and Sydney, Seatfrog is a startup that wants to make the process of upgrading at the last minute a painless, even pleasurable and fun one. The core function of the Seatfrog app is to allow users to bid in an auction for an upgraded seat.
The fewer people using Seatfrog on your plane, train, or automobile, the more likely you are to get into a luxury leather seat next to the businesspeople for a steal. In turn, this will increase word of mouth and bring more users to the app, wanting to get an upgrade for a pittance. And then the auction begins in earnest!
Similar to eBay, there is an option to ‘Upgrade Now’ without bidding, for a set price. If disaster should befall you and someone else outbids you for a seat, the app will notify you by push notification of another upgrade. This will be a straight sell rather than another auction, but it means you can pretend it wasn’t you who lost the auction because £16 was just too rich for your blood.
Seatfrog says that the scale of the opportunity in air and rail is huge. They say that, annually, more than 37 million premium seats are empty across the top 30 airlines. Across the top seven European rail providers, it’s 480 million. That’s a lot of bidding.
Seatfrog is currently live with only London North Eastern Railway - previously Virgin - but with 5 or 6 more partners coming soon. It is a simple, useful app that we think, with their recent £4.5m Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures, will get a lot of mileage.
If you like the sound of this travel tech startup, you might want to read up on:
- Early-stage startup CityRadar aims to track and increase tourism consumer spend
- Sherpr - The travel startup that's making shipping sports equipment a doddle
-
TravaPlan wants to make business travel management a one-stop pursuit
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
EISA Survey reveals how key growth businesses needing investment now may disappear within 12 months if Government fails to act
Selfie Salon wants you to join the #selfiesalon movement to #stayhomesavelives by showing your support in taking a before-and-after beauty self-grooming picture!
Coronavirus. How do you survive as a business owner with minimal or no business at all? Consider the following tips...
Crowdcube launches campaign and calls on the government to take action to protect Britain's entrepreneurial future...
A UK-based social enterprise Lanterne, has developed, and is soon to launch, Keep Your Distance, a free app that will help us observe social distancing.
Bring! is a digital grocery tool that simplifies grocery shopping for you and anyone you are shopping for.
In a bid to help brands during the current pandemic, the GreenJinn grocery app makes some rapid changes to its service
Coronavirus & furloughing employees. Nichola Hailes of Payfit looks to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the job retention scheme.
For startups entering the food industry, here's why accurate labelling on ready-to-eat food products is important.
Whether you’re looking to create a frugal startup, or it’s already up and running, here are 4 tips to reduce costs while keeping the work environment pleasant.
Published on: 26th August 2018
.png)
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Industry survey indicates impact of COVID19 on growth businesses needing investment 7th Apr 2020 EISA Survey reveals how key growth businesses needing investment now may disappear within 12 months if Government fails to act
- Save Our Startups campaign launched 5th Apr 2020 Crowdcube launches campaign and calls on the government to take action to protect Britain's entrepreneurial future...
- Cerebreon the Irish deep learning startup raises £1.5m in seed funding 31st Mar 2020 The insolvency technology startup secures funding to help support the UK's most vulnerable consumers to avoid bankruptcy
- Chivas Venture divides this year's $1m Venture Fund between 26 global Startups 23rd Mar 2020 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chivas Divides its $1m No-Strings Venture Fund Between 26 Startups
