Webee, super app for hotels, gains ground on global journey
WEBEE, the digital guest experience platform, continues its journey as a global venture, offering differentiation opportunities for the hospitality industry.
Özgür Zan, co-founder and general manager of WeBee, says the company has been seeking to add value to its customers’ customers, focusing on guests staying at hotels.
“This was our first goal. Our second imperative was to become a global leader, not just a local one. In line with these objectives, we developed our product named WeBee at YTÜ (Yıldız Technical University) Technopark, and through İTÜ (Istanbul Technical University)
Technopark’s Innogate program, we conducted competitive analysis, global market analysis, and business planning. After scrutiny by dozens of mentors and consultants, we charted our course in line with our goals,” said Zan.
“As a result, we secured significant grants from the European Union, completed three investment rounds, established a company in the U.K., a sales office in Dubai, and became market leaders in three countries.”
SUCCESS IN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Zan summarized their goals, stating that their achievements have opened doors for them on a global journey.
“We participated in major tourism fairs worldwide, establishing integrations and partnerships with leading software in our vertical,” he noted.
WeBee, in the guest satisfaction vertical, achieved the highest score globally with 4.9 out of 5 from Capterra, the software product rating agency under Gartner.
“The success of the product, global references, and our vision attracted the attention of companies in Canada, the U.S., and Spain,” Zan added.
Within the past year, foreign companies have expressed interest in acquiring the company, said Zan.
“However, we are not yet intent on selling because we aim to gain more market share globally with the products we have invested heavily in so far.”
ECOSYSTEM ADVANTAGE
Zan emphasized the significant advantage of the ecosystem formed in technoparks.
“Apart from the qualified workforce and experiences of academics in universities, technoparks now contribute value to the country’s entrepreneurial economy with global acceleration programs, incubation centers, events for the entrepreneurial ecosystem, identification of successful ventures and introduction to the ecosystem, attracting investors and more,” he noted.
He said acceleration programs like İTÜ Technopark’s Innogate have helped entrepreneurs to see Türkiye not only as a market but also think globally and operate on a global scale.
“This enables them to enter new markets, make the right moves and market entry strategies with limited resources, with the support of expert mentors and consultants. The social interaction among the managers of companies in the technopark, being each other’s customers, collaborating and exchanging ideas in different markets, also contributes significantly to the companies,” Zan said.