Techstars Mobile in Detroit just announced the 12 automotive mobility and transportation related companies accepted into their class of 2016, and they included Voyhoy, a bus travel hub based in Santiago Chile.
Partnering with the eight leading automotive and transportation global corporate giants, Techstars Mobile promotes high-tech startups that advance transportation, making people more mobile. They host their 2nd annual demo day September 8, 2016, when over 1,000 people will go to Detroit to meet the Class of 2016.
Voyhoy is the first company in Chile accepted into Techstars Mobile, and it's already raised $450,000 in funding.
Voyhoy makes it easy for people to travel by intercity buses in Chile, Peru and Columbia. Air travel is expensive for most people in South America, and so Voyhoy acts as a travel agent and aggregator of available bus companies to make trip planning and ticket buying as convenient as possible.
They act as agents for different bus companies, so travelers can save a lot of time just by going to Voyhoy to see all the bus companies that serve their destination. Voyhoy makes the process of comparing the available buses simple and easy. They just select the most convenient and least expensive ticket. Just as with buying airplane tickets online, travelers select their seats from those still available. Travelers receive a unique number, which they use to check in at the bus terminal.
Voyhoy is a 2013 Graduate of the Santiago Founder Institute, where its founder, Brien Shanahan, finished first in the class. While Voyhoy is expanding quickly through South America, Brien is also growing the similar brand, Resertrip, in Europe. Brien has made Vohhoy the success it is today by relying on his extensive experience with other startups, having founded in 2011 SEO4Advisors, a white-hat search engine optimization service for financial advisors. He's also been written up in RIA Central, Financial Advisor Magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
Voyhoy makes their money from the companies, so they charge their customers the same price the traveler would have to pay the bus company. Therefore, they have nothing to lose by going to Voyhoy first. Sometimes they even offer discounts, making Voyhoy cheaper than buying directly from the bus company.
Just in Chile alone, according to Google, there are nearly 250,000 searches a month for information about buying bus tickets. There are many bus companies operating, but Voyhoy is the only company aggregating the information to make comparing rates and service easy. Most of their site's traffic comes from Google searches.
They partner with Travel Chile, the country's official site promoting tourism. However, Voyhoy can't accept foreign debit or credit cards although it accepts ones from banks inside Chile. However, it does accept Pay Pal.
Voyhoy has been selling bus tickets since August 2015, according to F6S. They work with six bus companies and are negotiating with 20 others. In the first two months of 2016, they averaged 500,000 site sessions per month, and grew 30% monthly. Over 2 million people have used their site in the past year. Voyhoy covers 10,000 bus trips per day. They also provide an online portal full of other information useful to travelers. Information about bus terminals, bus companies and tour guides. Voyhoy also arranges and organizes bus tours. They'll find your group the best rates for sightseeing, attending special events and studying. They are working on producing a mobile app for buying tickets.
Voyhoy has won several awards besides their selection as one of the Techstars Mobile Class of 2016. In 2014 the Association of Entrepreneurs of Chile) chose Voyhoy as one of the 10 best projects of the year. ASECH is the top organization in Chile for creating new businesses.
As the first Chile-based startup accept into Techstars, Voyhoy is fulfilling its promise as one of the top travel platforms in South America.
