Today, we are profiling Companyon, a travel networking platform where you can connect to your co-travellers prior to the journey. Companyon connects people over international, domestic as well as local journeys. Now travellers can make their travel time productive by making great professional and personal connections. Its a novel idea, which adds social layer on top of travel.
How we started
While the company was registered in August, 2016, App went live in March, 2017. Team is based out of Gurgaon, India.
What is our user growth like
App has more than 5,000 unique users and sees daily engagement of over 20,000. Product observes strong retention rate of over 60% and aims to get over 25,000 users(for it’s stand alone app) by the end of 2017.
We aren’t bootstrapped
Company has raised angel investment through HNIs.
The crux of the problem we are solving
Daily commute and travel continues to be a major problem for urban population. People tend to spend more than 80 mins. one side while commuting. This problem could be eradicated if people start to use the networking opportunities while traveling and grow their network personally as well as professionally. For eg. In a city like Tokyo, more than 8 mn people and in New Delhi more than 5 mn people commute daily via Metro train. There is immense possibility of networking while commute. Both as a commuter and platform user, we realized the problems of wasting time during commute. A major reason why millennials and office goers are leading a stressful time even beyond their office/college hours is long and solo commuting hours. Companyon is a tailor-made solution for daily commuters, where they can find companions, make new friends and connections and eventually travel together.
For Business/Air Travelers, we are working on our SaaS product which will carry a set of APIs that can be integrated with OTA (Online Travel Agents) applications thus adding a layer of social on top of their current travel offering. This value add would allow people to find, network and connect with other air travellers thus helping them make most of their time spent at the airport and while flying.
Main Features
- Find Your Companion: Browse through the list of people travelling on the same route as yours. Companyon comes with the flexibility to view travellers across different modes of transport thus proving to be a versatile search platform.
- In-app Chat Box: Engage in conversation with the suggested user through in-app chat box.
- Airport Connect: You can meet new people at the airport post check-in and expand your network irrespective of the itineraries. Get real-time location of your potential connections through Airport Connect feature.
- Online Check-in: Use this feature to do hassle free online check-in for your flights. Online check-in available across carriers such as Air India, Air Costa, AirAsia, Air Vistara, SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways, GoAir etc.
Companyon Co-Founders
Our revenue model
Companyon is planning to make money by 3 ways:
1. Our B2B SaaS model will be our major source of revenue.
2. In-app user friendly advertisements
3. Ancillary revenue through affiliate partnerships with Airport Retailers, Duty Free Shops and Local Discovery Platforms
About Our Team
Parth Shrivastava- Parth is an IIT Hyderabad pass-out. He completed his minor degree in Entrepreneurship and carries expertise in Digital Marketing and UI/UX. Parth has worked as a digital marketer in an AI based company prior to starting up.
Mayur Misra- Mayur is a 2012 engineering graduate from SRM University, Chennai. After working for 2+ years in RBS as a Corporate Banker, he joined a hyperlocal handyman services startup and handled the operations for over 9 months, before starting up Companyon.
Shivam Lohtia- Shivam is a 2014 Computer Science Graduate from IIT Hyderabad. He is a hardcore techie who has worked with E-Comm. company- SnapDeal as a Software Developer for over 2 years before starting up.
