At the FutureTravel Summit 2024, held on November 28 in Barcelona, Belli won the grand prize of €300,000. This award was sponsored by Google Cloud, Simpleshow, the EU-Startups Summit 2025, and SEMrush. With this achievement, Belli joins the ranks of other technology companies in the air cargo sector, such as Cargo One and WebCargo, which have successfully raised venture capital funds.

The founders of Belli, Jeff Pan and Alex Khor, are former consultants who previously led software engineering teams at Booking, SpaceX, and Teleport (AirAsia’s cargo arm). During their presentation at the summit, they demonstrated how their end-to-end software solution replaces the air cargo industry’s outdated legacy systems, which are both inefficient and behind the times. In contrast, Belli automates manual processes in cargo terminals, enabling airlines to significantly increase their revenues.

Earlier, at the Tech in Asia startup pitch, Belli founder Pan highlighted an interesting fact: while air cargo accounts for only 1% of global trade by volume, it contributes a remarkable 35% of global trade by value. He pointed out that due to a lack of proper technology, most airlines operate with 85% of the bottom of their planes empty.

“Filling the bottom of the plane could essentially allow an airline to double its operating margin on a flight,” he stated. Pan also shared a case study demonstrating how AirAsia successfully increased its air cargo revenue from $20 million to $200 million in just five years.

During the competition in Barcelona, the former Chief Product Officer of Teleport – Pan, highlighted how air cargo remains a blind spot for major airline vendors like Amadeus. Despite employing over 19,000 staff for passenger technology, they have no employees dedicated to cargo, even though this sector represents a $146 billion market for airlines.

A recent announcement from an air cargo tech startup featured a discussion where Suzanna Chiu, Head of Amadeus Ventures, asked Jef”, “Why would an airline choose your solution over existing cargo software” vendors?” In response, Pan explained” “Our team is unusual in that we’re ex-consultants who also have experience running an airline’s cargo tech team and software engineering expertise. Every airline we ever sit down with usually learns something new within the first hour. My biggest frustration when I was working with cargo software vendors was that really simple things like setting up an API was a months-long ordeal.”