Darvin Kurniawan, Founder and CEO of Crowdvilla, joins Travel Tech Con 2018.
Warm welcome to Darvin — we’re looking forward to his Travel Tech Con 2018 keynote on Blockchain technology in the holiday properties / home sharing space!
Darvin is the Founder and CEO of REIDAO, a Singapore-based company digitizing real estate assets on the blockchain which has just launched its new venture Crowdvilla, a NPO (non-profit organization) for shared holiday homes. Darvin has a strong background in business development, project management, and entrepreneurial background and was previously responsible for branding and marketing for Thomson Reuters Asia and former founder of multiple start-ups. Kurniawan passion with real estate started in the early years after his graduation, where there was a huge property boom in Singapore. He identified many lucrative properties to invest in, however, the cost to enter such an opportunity was too huge for him alone. Darvin felt he could solve this problem by pooling the resources of a few friends and families together to purchase the property in a way that is trustworthy and effortless. Crowdvilla was the solution to this problem, and was made possible through blockchain technology.
Darvin, what in your opinion drives innovation and leaps forward in travel industry today and how is it different from say 10 years ago?
The latest trend is about how blockchain technology is going to disrupt the travel industry, from ticketing, accommodation, even air miles are going to be ported to a blockchain based solution while 10 years ago it was probably about mobile-first travel app. There is an obvious shift on which innovation is now leading the tech evolution in the space.
What do startups building next generation travel tech products need to understand about travel industry evolution and future opportunities?
What we need to pay attention to is how technology is changing the paradigm on how we used to do certain things. With the possibility of creating digital assets, a whole new paradigm of selling flight ticket can be structured in such a way that it was not possible before. For example: if we start looking at flight seat as asset with expiry date, that is freely tradable, that will create an interesting new way on how airline can sell their flight ticket.
What are some of your favorite travel tech products, projects or innovation initiatives that the industry should be paying attention to?
Creating an itinerary for my travel plan was always a big pain point for me. It is a good thing that I am the type that can appreciate an impromptu planning. So personally I have been paying attention to an AI related travel project that attempted to create an itinerary or the like based on my past travel experiences.
Warm welcome to Crowdvilla, see Darvin’s keynote at Travel Tech Con 2018.
