After saving 20% on a business trip to Hong Kong using the Web3 consumption platform, I chatted with the founder of Umy

Interview: Tong, PANews

Written by: Frank, PANews

During the just concluded 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, as the official media partner of the conference, PANews went to the scene to report. Unlike in the past, this time we tried to use Umy when booking the air tickets and hotels for this trip to Hong Kong. In addition to being much cheaper than traditional platforms, it can also be settled directly with stablecoins, which is much more convenient for the Web3 team. How can a Web3 business travel platform have a price advantage over traditional platforms?

With this curiosity, PANews chatted with Alex, the founder and CEO of Umy, who was also present at the event. In the bustling booth, Alex introduced to us the business logic and future blueprint of challenging the traditional OTA pricing system. Umy's model seems to have explored a new paradigm for Web3 enterprises to enter traditional scenarios.

Web3 infrastructure is mature, it’s time to solve the pain points of consumer scenarios

PANews: Can you introduce the team, especially the background of the founding team?

Alex: Our team actually entered the cryptocurrency industry in 2018 and 2019. The team members have diverse backgrounds, including those from traditional Internet giants, those from prestigious overseas universities, and those with strong technical or research capabilities in the cryptocurrency industry. When we decided to focus on the Umy project last year, we integrated the team and established an independent company. Currently, there are four co-founders, including me.

PANews: Do these four co-founders all have a Web3 background?

Alex: Three of them are from Web3 background. Another one is from the traditional airline and hotel industry, with rich experience and good resources. He is mainly responsible for sales and supply chain resource integration. Other positions include CTO, and a VP who will be responsible for the future business expansion of the entire Umy Group with me.

PANews: If you were to introduce Umy in one sentence, what would you say?

Alex: Umy is a comprehensive consumer platform in the Web3 field. Our slogan is "travel, shopping, life", which actually represents our gradual and in-depth layout: starting with the biggest rigid demand of "travel", and gradually expanding to all aspects of e-commerce and life in the future. We give priority to serving Web3 users, but we also welcome and support traditional Internet users. We have opened a credit card payment channel and will connect to more traditional payment channels in the future.

PANews: Why did you finally choose to enter the tourism consumption track first?

Alex: In the past few years, the infrastructure of Web3, especially the implementation of better public chains and expansion solutions, has reduced gas fees to extremely low levels and greatly increased transaction speeds. This has laid the foundation for building consumer applications that truly solve users' high-frequency needs. In the past, gas cost dozens of U and transactions took several minutes, which was unrealistic for daily consumption. Now that the technical conditions are mature, we think the time has come to use the decentralized, transparent, and low-cost features of Web3, combined with our experience in product development and close proximity to users, to solve the pain points in traditional consumer scenarios, such as travel. So Umy came into being.

No profit from price difference between users, no overcharging for old customers

PANews: What do you mean by the pain points of traditional consumption scenarios in travel? What are the core advantages of Umy compared with traditional OTA platforms?

Alex: The core is price and transparency. Traditional OTA platforms (such as "Chengdu") have the power to set prices. From the cost price of the hotel to the user, there are multiple layers of agents who add up the price, which may be as high as 20% or even more. They also use big data to "take advantage of the familiarity". Different users may see different prices, and high-level members may even be more expensive.

Umy's advantages are:

Price advantage: We directly connect with suppliers, cut out the middlemen, and strive to give suppliers' bottom prices directly to users, without making a profit from the price difference on the C-end. Users can also feel this through actual experience. For example, this time when I came to Hong Kong, I booked with Umy and it was about 20% cheaper.

Transparency: We do not engage in “taking advantage of the old customers” behavior, and in the future we plan to upload pricing information to the chain to achieve openness and transparency.

Convenient crypto payment: Supports multiple cryptocurrencies such as USDT/USDC, which is convenient for Web3 users to consume directly. It also supports WeChat and Alipay to meet a wider range of needs.

PANews: If Umy does not make money from the price difference between users, what is its business model? How does it make a profit?

Alex: Our profit model has changed its thinking and no longer relies on the price difference on the C-end. It mainly comes from two aspects:

Supplier rebates: As a sales channel, we will receive a certain percentage of rebates from suppliers such as hotels and airlines.

Value-added service fee: For B-end customers or high-end individual users with special needs (such as company team building, family vacation customization, conference services, etc.), we provide one-on-one exclusive services and charge service fees. For price-sensitive users who only need standard booking services, they can enjoy a price close to zero markup.

PANews: In addition to price advantages, what other features does Umy have in its products and services to attract users?

Alex: In addition to standard flight and hotel booking services, we also offer:

Luxury travel (prime) section: meets the needs of users who have demands for high-end hotels and customized itineraries.

Featured products: Aiming at the needs of Web3 communities and project parties, we provide services such as island tours, ski packages, and conference venue docking.

Membership system: Through different levels such as gold card, platinum card, black card, etc., it provides price discounts, exclusive customer service, priority resource matching and other rights.

Payment solution (UmyPay): We have developed a payment system that integrates cryptocurrency and fiat currency. This system also has the potential to be provided to other companies as a B2B service in the future.

PANews: Cryptocurrency payment is a feature of Umy. What currencies are currently supported? How do you deal with the risk of exchange rate fluctuations after users pay with cryptocurrency?

Alex: Currently, we mainly support USDT and USDC, but will soon expand support to BTC, ETH and more mainstream and emerging currencies. After the user pays, we will manage the exchange rate risk through internal exchange strategies and partners. We try to lock the exchange rate or exchange it to stablecoins in real time, and then exchange it to the corresponding fiat currency when we need to settle with suppliers. We will strive to keep the user's exchange cost at an extremely low level, such as a few ten-thousandths.

PANews: There are also some other Web3 travel projects on the market, such as Travala. Compared with them, what are the differences in Umy's positioning and advantages?

Alex: The main difference lies in the pricing strategy and service scope. We emphasize that the price we give to users is basically zero commission and no markup, while it is understood that Travela may still have a 15%-20% markup rate. In addition, we have a deeper layout in luxury hotels (luxury travel sector) and B-side customized services for the Web3 industry. In addition, we also provide more abundant non-standard products.

PANews: What about products like U Card (cryptocurrency credit card)? Will it be a competitor?

Alex: We are not competitors, but better partners and ecosystem co-builders. U Card is a payment tool that solves the problem of "how to spend money". Users can use it to spend money anywhere, including Umy. Umy solves the problem of "where to spend money more cost-effectively and with a better experience", and provides specific consumption scenarios and value. We have a cooperative and complementary relationship with U Card, and will cooperate with more U Card projects in the future.

Vigorously develop overseas markets and implement Web3 technology in rigid consumption scenarios

PANews: What is Umy’s current market focus and future expansion plans?

Alex: Before April this year, we mainly conducted tests and trial operations internally and in familiar circles. After April, as the product iterations improve, our market focus will shift to overseas on a large scale. Key cities include Dubai, London, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, there are some popular tourist destinations, such as Jeju Island, Maldives, and Mount Fuji/Hokkaido ski areas. Because June is the peak tourist season, we hope to seize this opportunity to gain popularity in both Web2 and Web3 markets.

PANews: How do you view the impact of the current bear market on Umy’s business?

Alex: I think the bear market is an opportunity. In a bull market, people may be busy trading, but in a bear market, speculation is reduced, and people may be more willing to use the cryptocurrencies they hold to improve their lives, experience consumption, and have a stronger demand for travel. For our team, the bear market also allows us to focus more on polishing our products.

PANews: What strategies does Umy have in terms of brand cooperation and ecosystem building? For example, participating in the Web3 Festival this time?

Alex: We attach great importance to B-side cooperation and brand endorsement. Participating in top industry events such as the Web3 Conference is very helpful for us to establish brand awareness and connect with investment institutions, project parties, traffic platforms and other resources in the early stage. We are also actively cooperating with major wallets and exchanges to provide consumption scenarios for their users and realize ecological co-construction.

PANews: In addition to travel, what other areas will Umy expand into in the future?

Alex: In the future, Umy can become a portal (or "hook") for traffic and resources. On the one hand, users can find various Web3 consumption scenarios on the Umy platform. On the other hand, project parties can also obtain traffic, brand exposure and early support through Umy, including solving infrastructure problems such as payment.

PANews: In addition to blockchain technology, does Umy have any applications in AI?

Alex: Our team has actually been deploying AI-related solutions and products, including AI solutions in the field of travel. In the future (probably in the second half of the year), we will open up the relevant APIs and provide them to AI Agents or other AI projects according to standards. For example, after an AI application for e-commerce is connected to our API, its users may only need to say one sentence: "I will go to a certain place to attend a certain meeting from a certain date to a certain date", and our AI can automatically analyze factors such as time, location, and purpose, plan the best air ticket and hotel plan, and provide a price comparison of competing products to show how much cost is saved. It can even combine destination information, weather, surrounding recommendations, etc. to generate several complete itinerary plans for users to choose from.

PANews: Many Web3 projects will issue coins. What does Umy think about this?

Alex: Currently, our team is planning for equity financing and future listing. Issuing coins is certainly an option, and we can also do it overseas in compliance, but we don’t want to do it for the time being. First, it is to maintain the original intention and do a good job in products and business; second, issuing coins will be too affected by the market cycle, which may affect the company’s development rhythm and user sentiment, and may also bring additional compliance pressure and maintenance costs. Taking the equity route is more stable. Of course, we do not rule out the possibility that at the right time in the future, if issuing coins is indeed more conducive to the development of users and the ecosystem, we will consider issuing tokens, but now the focus is on solidifying the products and business first.

PANews: Will Umy move from the "certain process" of Web3 to the "Taobao of Web3" in the future?

Alex: We don’t have such a big ambition to take over all consumer tracks. What we want to do is to make a solid example of “implementing Web3 technology in rigid consumer scenarios”. We hope to unite more like-minded friends to promote this direction, which is more in line with the decentralized spirit of Web3. It is enough for us to do a good job in our own vertical products and services. In the future, we can even support and help other project parties that want to do similar things to prosper the Web3 consumer ecosystem together.