Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025: Eco.mio

With the sustainable Eco.mio plug-in for booking
tools, companies such as Roland Berger and Kearney have saved 20% of
their emissions from business travel and reduced their
travel costs. The configurable system motivates employees to choose greener and
more cost-efficient travel options through greater transparency, nudging,
gamification, carbon taxes and incentivization.

PhocusWire coverage

STARTUP STAGE: Eco.mio helps companies guide employees to choose greener travel options

Sustainable business travel startup Eco.mio raises 7-figure seed round 

Founders Sarah Benarey, Mario Blatter and Katharina Riederer

Strategic goals for 2025

We aim to drive expansion for
Eco.mio beyond Germany and diversify our products, positioning ourselves as a
European leader in sustainable travel management with an expanded product
range.

Our plans include new
applications for hotels and rental cars, along with advanced sustainability
governance solutions, such as internal CO2 taxation and budget management, to
further support sustainable business travel.

Lessons learned since founding

Since
founding our Eco.mio, we’ve gained critical insights into the challenges travel
managers face in aligning business travel with sustainability goals. The
introduction of European Union regulations requiring not only emission reports but also
comprehensive “transition plans” has heightened the need for viable
strategies that extend beyond current technological capabilities, particularly
in sectors heavily reliant on fossil fuels like business travel. We’ve also
learned that despite economic pressures emphasizing travel costs, the inherent
value of business travel cannot be overlooked.

Travel managers frequently express frustration with the rigidity of
current online booking tools (OBTs) and the constraints they encounter when
adjusting travel policies to cover more sustainable practices. Policies need to
maintain essential flexibility while managing costs and environmental impact.
This understanding has guided our application of behavioral science at the point of sale and the development of a seamless integration that works
independently of and on any OBT, supporting travel managers in meeting both
business and sustainability objectives.