Notonmap gets 2,50,000 Euro grant from Booking.com

Indian startup Notonmap, which seeks to create a livelihood for people in rural areas by connecting them to offbeat travellers, has bagged a Euro 2,50,000 grant from travel portal Booking.com. The grant was announced Friday after ten shortlisted startups completed a three-week accelerator programme, which culminates with pitches for the grants, a Booking.com statement said.

The startup's founder Kumar Anubhav said that seeking a purpose in life led him to the idea. "I am an engineer. I went to the US... worked for an American firm for several years, but the question that haunted me was what was the purpose of my life. That was the trigger," he told PTI after the announcement.

Anubhav said they launched the pilot project in 2014, seeking to give travellers a real taste of the rural areas with intimate interactions. "These communities are like cultural museums, they are our cultural heritage," he said explaining the philosophy behind the initiative.

Currently, the organisation is working across 60 villages, covering some 20 communities. Among other states they have presence are Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, he said. Notonmap's Euro 2,50,000 is the highest grant received by any startup and it has received the money for its proposed expansion plans in the future, the Booking.com statement said.