A Manx-born graduate, Harvey Lowe, and his co-founder Prithveesh Reddy, have successfully launched the B2B travel-tech platform Arcube, with Etihad Airways as its first customer.

Arcube enables airlines to upsell ancillaries, tailored specifically to the customer via the AI-powered analysis of hundreds of data points. For example, a passenger flying out of London Heathrow, known for its notoriously long security queues, might be offered a fast-track security pass for their next flight, redeemable with loyalty points.

This turns an otherwise frustrating experience into an incentive to rebook with the same airline. These ancillaries significantly increase the likelihood that the passenger will return to the airline.

Lowe, who won in the innovation category at last year’s Gef 30 Under 30 awards, attended Ballakermeen High School before continuing his education at the University of Manchester.

He started the business at 18 years old with co-founder Reddy.

The pair discovered the shortcomings of airline loyalty schemes during their frequent travels, and came to the conclusion that current programs only benefit the top 5% of flyers, with the majority virtually never accumulating enough points to make use of them.

While still in the first year of their undergraduate degrees, the pair sent a simple, cold email pitch to the Etihad Airways London office - the likes of which are often sent with little expectation of a response.

Lowe said: ‘It was a case of reaching the right person at the right time; we had full confidence in what we were offering, but breaking into the airline business is notoriously difficult. So a positive response from Etihad meant the world to us and reaffirmed we were moving in the right direction.’

In the two years since, and during the remainder of the founding pair’s stint at university, Arcube’s platform has enabled passengers enrolled in Etihad Airways’ pilot programme to customise their travel experience. This has driven seven-figures in additional revenue for the airline and increased the average customer spend by 10.3%.

In conjunction with the launch, Arcube is announcing a £1.15M seed round to further develop the platform and its services, co-led by Fuel Ventures and Oxford Capital Partners. The money raised will be put towards growing the platform and the team is already in conversations with 14 other airlines globally.