{"id":41442,"date":"2023-10-20T15:13:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/melbourne-startup-locomote-announces-big-global-expansion-and-name-change-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:13:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:59","slug":"melbourne-startup-locomote-announces-big-global-expansion-and-name-change-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/melbourne-startup-locomote-announces-big-global-expansion-and-name-change-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne startup Locomote announces big global expansion and name change – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Travelport<\/div>\n

Melbourne startup Locomote has announced a significant global expansion through a partnership with a billion-dollar tech giant.<\/p>\n

Locomote has revealed plans to open new offices in the UK and the corporate travel platform will be merging its name with the NYSE-listed Travelport to leverage its internationally recognised brand.<\/p>\n

Operating under the Travelport Locomote name, the Aussie startup has also expanded its presence in Melbourne to accommodate for its fast-growing team.<\/p>\n

Locomote is a corporate travel platform aiming to simplifying the approval, booking and expenses process for workers and employers when travelling.<\/p>\n

TravelPort Locomote co-founder and CIO Ross Fastuca says the rebrand was a mutual decision between the two tech companies to help promote Locomote and add value to Travelport\u2019s new digital arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to make sure we\u2019re all working together to solve problems for our customers,\u201d Fastuca tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of our vision nothing really changes, this really just opens people\u2019s eyes to us and opens our reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fastuca says Locomote has doubled in size over the last year in Australia, and the team will now be working to accelerate this growth across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly have global ambition,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And it won\u2019t stop with the UK, with Locomote now setting its sights on the US, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of data and information coming from lead generation and everything we do in our market,\u201d Fastuca says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now really about growing our presence in the market, getting our foot in the door and making people aware of what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to dramatically increase our user base and we now have a really good platform and really good partners around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having a viable and in-demand product offering is the most crucial thing when a startup is looking to expand globally, Fastuca says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is to make sure you\u2019re building something that is solving real problem and make sure that the user is able to interact and adopt it really quickly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And when competing with international players, being different is key.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually don\u2019t want to do the same thing they do, we have to come from a different angle, have a different value proposition,” he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur whole mindset is around how do we actually do things differently and solve problems for travellers and travel managers.”<\/p>\n

In line with this, when entering new markets, he says it\u2019s critical to contextualise the solution by working closely with local early adopters and partners – before going all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know their countries better than you do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to make sure that what you\u2019re doing is just not something you haven\u2019t validated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne startup Locomote has announced a significant global expansion through a partnership with a billion-dollar tech giant. Locomote has revealed plans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}