Company BiteMojo Made the tasting tour experience available to the independent traveler, and won a prize in the innovation competition Visa's Everywhere which took place recently. The company won a grant of 25 thousand euros in the local community challenge.
One of the things that bothers businessmen and tourists in unfamiliar cities is the local cuisine. One of the popular solutions is food tours, but they don't always fit the schedule, and sometimes they are also very expensive. The BiteMojo company created digital tours, which allow the independent traveler to visit the city and experience it through the stomach.
Michael Weiss, co-founder of BiteMojo explains: "My wife Yael and I, together with Reuven and Mor Philo, founded the largest culinary tourism company in Israel - Yalla Basta. The company grew quickly because it recognized a need for individual travelers to experience the best food markets in Israel without being dependent on a guide or a group.
"We developed a product called tasting cards that became the best-selling culinary product in Israel. We decided that in order to take this concept to the wider world it needs to be connected with technology and then we established BiteMojo as a separate startup that aims to provide the number one culinary experience in the world and allow more and more people to start learning about places through their local cuisine."
"We raised over half a million dollars from venture capital funds and private investors and developed the application on iOS and Android platforms. To date, we have used it to launch food tours in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Rome and soon in Barcelona, and then in other European cities. Our expansion model is through partnerships in each destination with companies that do local food tours. This way we also gain a local partner, also an understanding of the product and of course also significant savings in costs.
"BiteMojo's connection to Visa is very natural because it can enable a user experience that sounds imaginative today - the ability to purchase additional flavors already during the culinary experience. That is to enjoy additional benefits inside the business where the tour visits, and even give a tip using the app. These are features that users and business owners have asked for from us."
Oded Salomi, CEO of Visa in Israel, said: "BiteMojo was among 8 Israeli companies that advanced to the final stage and competed for the prizes against 7 other young companies from around Europe. The competition was tough, but the contestants stood out with their innovative ideas, advanced technologies and solutions, which will change the way people buy and use money."
Bill Gajda, senior vice president of innovation and strategic partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Visa, said: "We have been looking, and we continue to look, for a wide range of fintech solutions. In places like Tel Aviv, Berlin and London there are many companies that work in these fields.
"Israel is strong in many technologies, not only in everything traditionally related to security. Israel is starting to become a world leader in the field of biometrics and now a vibrant Bitcoin community is also forming there. In general, there are many good fintech companies in Israel that we want to work with and accelerate their development."
In order to contact Visa's innovation division in Israel, click HERE.
One response
I am very disturbed by this cult of food and gourmet that is gaining momentum.
They used to eat to live, "gourmet" who even knew what it was.
The prime minister would not only drink pink champagne, but would mix wine with soda (Ben Gurion).
Today, gourmet food has become a crazy cult, occupying most of the airtime on television channels and in the press and networks.
The problem is that more and more people suffer from obesity and cardiovascular diseases, and on the other hand from eating problems, and on the one hand support the gourmet world, and on the other hand the dietitians, surgeons, cardiologists, drug manufacturers, and undertakers.