TourWrist Wins $250,000 General Catalyst Award ²

In addition to presenting TourWrist on the first of the three-day conference, Armstrong was invited back Thursday for a Center Stage Q&A with travel industry veteran and Travel Tech Consulting, Inc. President Norm Rose whom is also PhoCusWright Senior Technology and Corporate Market Analyst.

The General Catalyst Award for Travel Innovation includes a $250,000 convertible note investment to the travel tech startup or emerging category that “demonstrates the most groundbreaking travel application or solution,” according to The PhoCusWright Conference website. General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that has worked closely with exceptional entrepreneurs at its portfolio companies such as: Airbnb, Kayak, Sabre Holdings, Room77 and ITA Software.

“While it’s exciting to win a $250,000 investment, it’s even more exciting to us that the General Catalyst team will help mentor and socialize TourWrist among the who’s who of Silicon Valley,” said Armstrong.

Commenting on Armstrong, General Catalyst Partners Managing Director Joel Cutler observes: “He’s thoughtful, he’s passionate, he’s extremely focused. It’s easy to understand what he is doing. He’s got a certain energy and charisma about what he’s doing that carries the day… It’s easy to see why he’ll be successful building a company.”

The DEMO Award for the Most Game-Changing Travel Innovation includes recognition and visibility at DEMO Spring 2013. At the previous year’s conference (DEMO Spring 2012), TourWrist was awarded DEMOgod status and the top honor of People’s Choice Award, which included a $1 million IDG advertising campaign.

• Glenn Morgan, Head of Service Transformation, British Airways
• Ned Williams, Partner, Brook Venture Fund
• Ellen Keszler, Presidenet and CEO, Clear Sky Associates
• Joe Strodel, Director of Comm. and Corp. Affairs, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
• Kathy Misunas, Principal, Essential Ideas and former CEO, Sabre
• Eric Hart, Vice President, Head of Corporate Development, Expedia
• Debu Purkayastha, Principal, Corporate Development, M&A, Google
• Adam Goldstein, Co-Founder and CEO, Hipmunk
• Valyn Perini, CEO, OpenTravel Alliance
• Glenn Fogel, Head of Worldwide Strategy and Planning, EVP of Corporate Development, Priceline.com Inc.
• Herman Leung, Senior Analyst, Internet Equity Research, Susquehanna Financial Group
• Gregg Brockway, Co-Founder, TripIt and former EVP and General Manager, TripIt
• Jim Hornthal, Chairman, Triporati and former CEO, Preview Travel
• Barrie Seidenberg, President and CEO, Viator

Media Coverage

• TravelWeekly – The Cutting Edge of Travel Technology [includes TourWrist] (11/19/12)
• TNOOZ – TourWrist Wins the Big Enchilada of Travel Innovation with 360-Degree Video Platform (11/14/12)
• VentureBeat – TourWrist Wins $250K for Being Star of Travel Tech Award Ceremony (11/14/12)
• NBCNews.com – [TourWrist Among] Innovators Offer New Tools for Travelers (11/14/12)
• Travel + Leisure – [TourWrist Among] Latest Travel Tech Innovations (11/14/12)
• Yahoo! Finance – PhoCusWright Announces Travel Innovation Summit Winners – TourWrist and Rome2rio Take Top Prizes (11/14/12)
• PR Web – TourWrit Demos Spherical 360-Degree Panorama Capture; Travel Companies Integrating TourWrist Virtual Tour Viewer and Capture Pano Technology Within Their Apps (11/13/12)
• Galding – TourWrist Brings New Views of Old Places (11/11/12)
• PhotoPlan – Holiday TourWrist (11/21/12)
• HotelNewsNow – Tech Startups Provide Buzz … (11/21/12)
• TravelAge West – [TourWrist Among] Travel Innovation Summit Winners (11/26/12)

Video: TourWrist Founder and CEO Charles Armstrong. At 8:01, Critics Circle and response. At 11:36, four awards presented to TourWrist. At 14:16 Q&A with Travel Tech Consulting, Inc. President Norm Rose. At 19:21, General Catalyst Partner Managing Director Joel Cutler on TourWrist.