RNS Reach

23 September 2019

Vela Technologies plc

("Vela")

Update re. Portr Limited - Airportr joins Amadeus Explore

The Board of Vela (AIM: VELA) notes that Portr Limited ("Portr"), the owner of Airportr, has joined Amadeus Explore, a global initiative to assist technology start-ups scale faster. As detailed in a press release issued by Amadeus IT Group SA ("Amadeus") on 20 September 2019, this strategic partnership will help Airportr to work towards extending its urban bag collection, check-in and delivery services to more locations and airlines.

Vela holds 256,275 shares in Portr equating to approximately 3.6% of Portr's issued share capital.

Extracts from the press release by Amadeus are copied below:

"Amadeus and Airportr join forces to eliminate baggage woes

Sara Pavan - Head of Innovation Partnerships, Amadeus

Picture this: you're about to go on a trip to a location you've wanted to explore for quite some time. Despite the excitement, you can't help but think it would be great if you could start your journey to and through the airport without having to worry about your belongings.

As it turns out, it's not just a matter of traveling light. With air travel expected to experience significant growth in the coming years, airports around the world are just about reaching capacity which makes the case for travel providers to come up with solutions to this challenge.

With this in mind, Amadeus has identified Airportr , the world's first airline-integrated bag check-in and delivery service - as a startup with great potential in this field. This London-based company has developed a network of input points around a city, through vetted drivers powered by its mobile technology. Customers can book via a participating airline, choosing a timeslot to have bags collected and checked-in at the location of their choice before their flight. The driver scans and validates IDs and boarding passes capturing responses to airline security questions and safely sealing bags. Having received the IATA tag receipts digitally, the customer next sees their bags in destination, on the reclaim.

This startup provides an innovative service to distribute processes off-airports enabling travelers to arrive security-ready and pass landside to airside seamlessly. Whilst helping to release baggage system capacity, this company is contributing to creating more distributed and scalable spaces.

Airportr's service covers a broad range of subsectors of air travel, transportation and technology. Although its primary distribution channel is airlines, this start-up caters to airport operators enhancing operational and service delivery, logistics and ground handling agents, and is developing concepts around a self-serve hotel product which will allow travelers to check-in baggage while checking out of hotels. It is also increasingly starting to work with travel management companies and online travel agents.

The British scale-up currently works with airlines such as British Airways, easyJet, Virgin Atlantic, Thomas Cook, Finnair, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines in London, with more airlines and locations planned to come online in 2019.

By joining Amadeus Explore , a global initiative to assist technology startups scale faster, Airportr will benefit from access to a wider network of potential customers and partners as well as support from a team of experts in the field.

With services like these, hopefully next time you're on holidays, you'll travel more smoothly, spend more time enjoying your destination, and maybe even relax a little more."

The full press release by Amadeus can be found here: https://amadeus.com/en/insights/blog/amadeus-and-airportr-join-forces-to-eliminate-baggage-woes

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About Vela Technologies 

Vela Technologies (AIM: VELA) is an investing company focused on early stage and pre-IPO long term disruptive technology investments. There are currently 12 investments in the portfolio which either have developed ways of utilising technology or developing technology with a view to disrupting the businesses or sector in which they operate. More recently, Vela Technologies has also started to focus on existing listed companies where valuations may offer additional opportunities.

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