flybmi
seats for startups British / European regional airline flybmi is giving new and emerging UK businesses the chance to win free flights across the network for a year. Launched in partnership with the Department for International Trade, the Seats for Startups initiative is open to any business that has been trading less than five years and with a turnover of less than £500k per annum.
the winning businesses, was online marketplace The winning businesses, Paperclip, whose founder which will be selected on a Rich Woolley said: “Winning quarterly basis, will receive a free flight with flybmi free flights for up to a year helped us immeasurably; as to enable them to support an early stage startup with and grow their business. limited funds at the time, the Meanwhile, they will also flight enabled us to visit our receive support from a DIT product development team International Trade Adviser. in Brno, Czech Republic. In 2016, flybmi trialled Seats for Startups in the Bristol region. One of
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“Working with the development team in person resulted in us catching some
Airline Marketing Monthly • December 2018
product issues before they arose, ultimately resulting in our business going from strength to strength, being nominated for (and winning) some of Wales’ top startup awards and going on to complete a seed raise of nearly £1m.” This is the first time that the initiative has gone (UK) national. ■
