Odessia operated for only a year and had released its travel planning tool about five months ago before shutting it down in connection with the purchase. The startup previously secured $6 million in pre-seed funding led by venture firm Sequoia. Davidson brings extensive hospitality experience to the organization, having driven Sonder to nine-figure revenues before navigating pandemic-related headwinds, a public listing, and an eventual bankruptcy filing.
Key points
Francis Davidson is transitioning into a new role to steer future travel applications at…: Francis Davidson is transitioning into a new role to steer future travel applications at OpenAI.
The unconfirmed transaction represents an acqui-hire that integrates startup talent rathe…: The unconfirmed transaction represents an acqui-hire that integrates startup talent rather than maintaining Odessia as a distinct product.
OpenAI is continuing to expand its focus on agentic tools specifically tailored for the t…: OpenAI is continuing to expand its focus on agentic tools specifically tailored for the travel sector.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
OpenAI has acquired an AI travel agent called Odessia, according to Odessia’s founder, Francis Davidson. Davidson says in a post announcing the deal that he’s now working for OpenAI, helping the AI lab with the future of travel.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but this looks like an acqui-hire. Davidson’s announcement focused largely on how he built his AI travel agent Odessia by directing teams of AI agents. The year-old Odessia raised a $6 million pre-seed round led by Sequoia, and launched its AI travel agent around 5 months ago. Davidson says that it had helped early adopters plan millions of dollars worth of travel, but the tool has already been shut down.
OpenAI did not announce this acquisition, nor confirm it to TechCrunch, when asked. Nor has it announced new travel-specific products or plans. It does, however, count such companies as Bookings.com, Expedia, and KAYAK as customers or partners.
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