Toozla, the unique service providing real time, location based content to travellers’ mobile devices, will be showcasing their innovative technology at The Get Funded Show@World Travel Market this November.

Published: 03 Sep 2009

Toozla, the unique service providing real time, location based content to travellers’ mobile devices, will be showcasing their innovative technology at The Get Funded Show@World Travel Market this November.

With independent travel accounting for an ever-growing proportion of travel, Toozla offers travellers a unique guide in unfamiliar cities. The service provides travellers with real time, location-based content in the shape of audio and text guides as they explore a destination. The volume and relevance of the information supplied depend on the options chosen by the user, and the speed at which he or she is moving.

With Toozla, tourists can also use their mobile device to create their own audio commentaries for their current location, which other users can then immediately access. In this way, an interactive tour guide is formed out of travellers’ own experiences. Toozla is a new way to explore the world.

Furthermore, Toozla marks the start of a new era for mobile, online location-based advertising (LBA). Companies can now send targeted messages to potential customers the moment they come within walking distance of a sales outlet. For example, hotels can inform users of room availability, while restaurants can provide them with details of the day’s specials.

Tom Ellum, Director of The Get Funded Show spoke with Alexei Cherenkov, CEO of Toozla about how the Toozla business is evolving and its potential to impact the travel industry: -

Tom Ellum: Tell us a little bit about your company – what made you decide to start it?

Alexei Cherenkov: First of all, I wouldn't say the idea came to us spontaneously. Working together for the last 4 years we have observed the new wave of business growth. We looked at many start-ups and thought that we could do something better- something extraordinary and breakthrough! At the same time we understood that to be successful we had to solve a particular market need and the idea had to make money. Being two specialists in project management, marketing and market research we understood that the planning stage is the most important part of any project. So having noticed the trend we started to develop Toozla.

TE: When was your eureka moment, most challenging moment and most enjoyable moment?

AC: We paid attention to the following market forces:
- almost every person in US and Europe uses mobile phones
- all modern phones have mobile Internet access, therefore users are able to receive advertising messages in real time
- GPS modules are built in into new phone models and there is a strong demand for location-based information from the users' side
- simplification, short messages (SMS, twitter), pod-casts, community generated content are general social trends
- augmented reality is becoming mainstream

Combining all these trends we developed our business. We believeToozlaopens a new era in media: each person receives personalized content in the right place at the right time.

The eureka moment was more than a year ago, when we identified the correct target audience – travellers - and devised the correct proposition for them. The challenge moment - when we created the first draft version of software and test was successful. And of course, we were very lucky finding our angel investor!

TE: Tell us about the team?

AC: Two guys who worked for big international corporations and decided to take on the World!

TE: What is the toughest part of being a new entrant in travel?

AC: Well, each industry has own rules. We are absolutely new in travel market, before we were just travellers. But we are open to all kinds of partnership and collaboration. We don’t see ourselves competing with existing businesses as our approach creates a new market.

TE: Why is your company set to impact the travel industry?

AC: Toozlachanges the way people explore the world. By using Toozla, thetraveller receives instant hints and information about the places they are visiting. Toozla gives them essential local knowledge, and information to ensure they are never lost in their destination. The whole World becomes their home. At the same timeToozlaoffers businesses a relevant and real-time way to interact with travellers.

TE: 5 years time…what will the travel industry be like and where will your company fit in (or will you be on a beach sipping cocktails after acenti-million exit!)?

AC: 5 years time... well, we dream about multi-million exit of course. In 5 years,Toozlawill be in the top three brands in travel information and be considered essential for all independent travellers. All major paper guides will be available throughToozlaand we will have millions of objects described. Toozlawill be embedded into most mobile devices.

TE: What’s the most important thing you want to get out of The Get Funded Show?

AC: First of all we look forward to the mentoring and questions from experts. Mentoring with the Travel Gurus and Investors will help us understand our business opportunities more precisely. We are sure that our business model will be interesting for strategic investors. We do not need immediate funding, partnerships are more important for us at the moment.

TE: So…top investors, senior travel executives and the world’s travel press – how are you going to make sure you stand out from the other 24 companies pitching?

AC: We are one of the first who invented this. We are the first who started this. Our technology and business model are the best. We are preparing an exciting presentation which will ensure attendees pay attention to Toozla.

‘Leveraging location-based technology for both the user and marketer unleashes a dynamic new channel of interaction in travel. Especially with traditional advertising spends under pressure Toozla’s new travel guides offer an innovative new touch point. The ability to create and share user-generated guides is another great feature of this technology.’ Tom Ellum, Director at The Get Funded Show commented.

Toozla (www.toozla.com) will be pitching to an assembled audience of senior travel executives, investors and the world’s travel press at The Get Funded Show@World Travel Market. Organised by EyeforTravel, on 11-12th November, the show offers innovative travel companies mentoring from travel veterans, worldwide publicity and real investment opportunity. For more information on the show please go to www.getfundedshow.com.