Ireland’s Boxever uses ‘big data’ to help airlines better understand customers

Airlines and other travel-focused companies want to know their customers better so they can tailor deals and recommendations. Meet Boxever, a new Irish startup focused on just that.

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Boxever, which launched today, provides real-time customer intelligence to airlines so they can better recommend flights, destinations, hotels, and other products in a similar manner to how Amazon recommends books, music, and games.

“There’s lots of talk about big data and the opportunities in the travel industry,” Boxever CEO Dave O’Flanagan told VentureBeat via email. “We feel that big data has the potential to fundamentally change how marketers relate to their customers –- all of them –- not just the small percentage that actively participate in a frequent flyer or loyalty program.”

Boxever has started by focusing on airlines, and eventually it will work its way out to other travel providers.

“Even though online travel was one of the first products to be sold online, it is probably the least sophisticated e-commerce vertical today — particularly airlines,” O’Flanagan said. “Personalization and targeting is mostly non-existent or poorly executed. Airlines are generating extremely valuable data about how their customers like to travel, but incredibly, many airlines delete purchase records once the passenger has flown.”

So far, the company is live with one European airline, and it is working on rolling out two more.

Dublin, Ireland-based Boxever was founded in Sept. 2011 and has raised $1 million in funding from Irish VC firm Delta Partners and a number of angel investors. The company has six employees.

Airplane at sunset photo via chalabala/Shutterstock