Regina-based app aims to make travel easier

Planning a group trip can be frustrating and it doesn’t always go according to plan, which is why a Regina-based tech company is working to make life easier for those going on vacation.

Krugo is a travel app that allows users to search and schedule events, book hotels, and chat with their travel group in a single place.

Creator Kirk Morrison said the idea came after his own frustrations in planning trips.

“I found it was kind of ’10-tab’ planning,” said Morrison, whose startup now has 10 employees. “You had a group chat for event schedules or (with) restaurant listings it was kind of all over the place, so that was the experience that I had.

“We set out that maybe I could create something that makes it easier for people.”

Morrison said the process to create the app has been a few years in the making, before a launch for an iPhone came in November and before an Android launch that occurred in March.

“We have access to over 130,000 events across North America,” said Morrison. “That’s everything from sports, concerts, theatres, festivals — anything you might be interested in doing.”

Krugo was built locally by Morrison and his group, the members of which he was able to recruit locally.

“We have everything on our team from programmers to graphic design users (to) interface user experience experts to people who are working on the business and marketing side,” said Morrison. “We’ve kind of been able to resource it all in Regina (and) we’ve been able to build our team here, so I think that’s a neat part of the story.”

Funding for Krugo came through a number of sources, which Morrison said allowed the company to grow further.

“We were able to benefit from an number of grant opportunities, specifically a federal innovation grant through the National Research Council,” said Morrison, who added a number of angel investors also helped spur on the group financially.

The group has also done contract work for other tech companies to help promote local growth.

Morrison hopes to expand into the fall by adding more restaurants and points of interest to the app, as well as spreading its user base outside of Saskatchewan.