Automated payment solution
SquadTrip
, a Black-owned business, has launched an
online tool to help travel professionals target millennial travelers by
offering flexible payment installments, Apple Pay checkout and promo codes.
The Brooklyn, New York-based startup says it enables organizers of
large- and small-group trips to create booking pages, accept payments
efficiently and manage communication and financials in one place. SquadTrip's platform eliminates the need for tracking payments using spreadsheets or sending
multiple messages, according to the company.
“The idea for SquadTrip developed while helping a close
friend create a simpler way to collect money for his birthday trip,” says
Darrien Watson, the tech company’s co-founder. “With our software system, he
turned an annual group trip into a million-dollar travel business.”
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The software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform was recently
chosen for the inaugural Build In Tulsa Techstars Accelerator. SquadTrip won
$120,000 and says it plans to use additional funding to add marketing tools and
educational resources for travel entrepreneurs.
The two Tulsa, Okla.-based organizations, Techstars and Build in
Tulsa, say they selected “12 of the most promising startups” representing
“diverse-led teams with the majority of the companies being founded and led by
Black CEOs.”
Over the next three months, Techstars will “help the
founders rapidly scale their operations, customers and access to capital, with
the help of an amazing mentor network and our partner organization, Build in
Tulsa, building on the legacy of Black Wall Street. The class will showcase
their progress in a Demo Day the week of November 3, 2022.”
SquadTrip co-founder Stevon Judd says hundreds of travel
organizers use the tool to manage three or more trips per year.
Travel professionals can build customized trip pages and
travel packages and set up payment plans and automatic billing. Other features
include managing reservation details, DocuSign integration for signing waivers
and chargeback agreements and daily payouts with Stripe. SquadTrip users can
create an account for free with no monthly payments and a 4% fee on each
transaction, according to the company.
“Most of our clients agree that our automated features make
it easier to track and collect payments while expanding their business,” Judd
adds.
SquadTrip’s co-founders previously created an event-ticketing
platform for Black entrepreneurs and won eBay’s Startup Cup Challenge in 2017.