Tripcents plans to use gamification to get people traveling more places within their budget. Users share travel preferences to get itinerary recommendations and can then set goals to save up enough to pay for their trip.

The app helps with travel planning, including financial goals, to get there and keeps track of savings accrued in an FDIC-insured deposit account, while giving users progress updates. Tripcents also offers a group travel planning feature which allows users to invite friends to join their itinerary.

What problem does your business solve?

The travel planning experience is disjointed and impersonal. Millennials lack the tools to save properly and regularly for travel and searching for budget friendly trip options is tedious.

Names of founders, their management roles, and number of full-time paid staff?

Brantley Pace – CEO and co-founder, Beau Bergman – COO and co-founder. We have a four-strong full-time team and three part-time staff. Of the seven total, four members are US military veterans.

Funding arrangements?

We’ve raised $225k to date and are currently raising another $450k pre-seed round.

Revenue model?

Revenue model is threefold:

• Subscription revenues from users.
• Hotel booking commissions.
• Interest sharing from our deposit accounts (at scale).

Why do you think the pain point you’re solving is painful enough that customers are willing to pay for your solution?

Travel is deeply meaningful and personal to Millennials. For a generation that is constantly traveling, saving for trips has never been more prevalent. Current solutions are time consuming in an era when we expect automation and personalization. We solve that with Tripcents by combining automated savings with personalized travel bookings all while keeping you mobile.

External validation

• Thousands of signups on waitlist
• Second place in the pitch competition at Patriot Boot Camp by Techstars
• Featured in Forbes and top travel blogs
• Advisors include the former VP of marketing at Sabre Labs
• Nominated for Benzinga Global FinTech Awards
• Co-founder is a former US Marine
• Co-founder is a alumni of Tim Draper’s Draper U

Tnooz view:

We already know that gamified savings apps have been well received, especially by younger demographics, and the financial principles behind these have worked for decades (think bank-sponsored Christmas club accounts).

Tripcents taps into that desire to save towards a fixed goal with a refreshing blend of data-based travel recommendations. The proposal is a good alternative to travel financing for those who want to avoid debt. With the right travel brand partnerships they may even be able to incentivize travel further; by adding a loyalty wallet feature, for example.