Introducing the Cypriot startup Micety

Founded in 2022, Micety wants to revolutionise destination management travel by streamlining the process of planning, managing and executing corporate group meetings and incentives.

The platform will gather in one place a slew of vendors for corporates travelling abroad to book their transfers, accommodation, meeting spaces, dinners and team-building activities, as well as audiovisual equipment and even decoration.

“Essentially, anything that will be needed for their event will be streamlined through our platform, while at the same time maintaining the human element by offering live communication with local experts in each destination,” says the startup’s founder, Alexis Onoufriou.

Onoufriou knows the industry inside and out. A chartered accountant by profession, he has been involved with destination management services in the UK, Greece and Cyprus since 2013. While recreational tourism has undergone a massive digital transformation in the past few years, with travellers preferring online alternatives to the old brick-and-mortar agencies – by 2021, the online travel market size worldwide stood close to US$435 billion – Onoufriou noticed that corporate group travel was largely left behind. The current model forces corporates to rely massively on intermediaries with each party in the chain having a mark-up of around 40-50%. “There is a huge opportunity to offer a cost-effective option – and still have a healthy and profitable model – by giving the user an essential tool in event planning and management,” he says.

Micety, then, aims not only to empower corporate clients to design the ideal travel to meet their needs but also to give them more value for their money.

While it is still early days for the startup, Onoufriou is keenly aware that it is entering unchartered territory. The plan, he says, is to start populating the platform with vendors in the next few weeks in order to have an MVP ready by September 2023. While he is confident that vendors will see the value the startup offers, especially as corporates tend to travel off-season, the challenge will be to add destinations globally. “Since we want to create a two-channel communication, it won’t be easy to find capable and knowledgeable experts in each destination,” he explains. At this very early stage, then, the plan is to start with Greece and Cyprus, where he already has connections.

“I believe that the team I have put together is one of our competitive advantages,” he says. “My partner, who is a UX/UI designer for the tourism industry and has worked for HardRock and Marriott Hotels, among others, really complements my many years of experience in the corporate group travel industry – we speak the same language!”

• Founder

Alexis Onoufriou

• What is it?

A revolutionary platform that streamlines the planning and management of corporate meetings and incentives.

• Stage

Pre-seed.

• What it aspires to be

The ‘new normal’ as an online one-stop-shop for corporate group travel management.

• Funds received

€72,000 from national grant scheme.

• Funds needed

€200-250,000

This interview first appeared in the March issue of GOLD magazine. Click here to view it.