Following up on my article last week, I would like to explain a little more about what Kyte exactly is and the story behind it. (Alice Ferrari, Kyte CEO)
Behind Kyte
I took over Kyte from January 2020, while working for Founders Factory, a corporate backed venture studio operating worldwide. Not long after, my two co-founders Will and Catalin joined, as the CTO and Head of Engineering, respectively.
Coming from the airline world I was already aware that you need deep knowledge and expertise of the industry in order to successfully introduce innovation.Will’s extensive experience as the VP of Product Strategy at ITA and founder of SilverRail Tech and Catalin’s great ability to build complex SaaS systems together helped us become what we are today - an API provider for airline retail. Together, we transformed Kyte from being an NDC aggregator to being a technology provider for airline distribution.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic - especially since we started right before it - we were able to grow Kyte as a business and establish ourselves in two continents.
What is Kyte exactly?
In simple terms - our Kyte API provides a modern plug for airlines and travel agents to connect more effectively and at a lower cost. Kyte taps into the back-end reservation system and provides a pipe that replaces the airline’s legacy connectivity solutions between their back-end and their sales channels - direct (mobile and web) and indirect (third party travel distributors).
As a result it will be easier for travel agents to access the full suite of the airline’s product and functionality and offer a seamless end-user journey. Airlines can also use Kyte to drive innovation by getting products out to market in days/weeks not months/years.
Our end goal is to allow airlines to break through the limitations of the legacy fare structure - when you search for a flight today, you always have to start with origin, destination, date and number of passengers, there is no way to also search by other things that really matter to us, like extra legroom, price of sports equipment or catering. There is no way for an airline to take into account historical data and dynamically offer a customer a bundle that is suited specifically to them. Think of the missed revenue opportunity when an airline could capture your attention, by offering you a special price on an extra legroom seat, knowing you’re a tall person who always purchases that kind of product, rather than forcing you into a 12-step obstacle-course of a booking funnel, trying to upsell you the most irrelevant ancillaries, such as a hotel in your home-city.