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Executive Summary: Which are the Top 10 Travel Companies & Startups to Watch?
- iWander (UK): AI travel agent platform for building branded chatbots and upselling across pre, post, and in-destination journeys.
- Otto (US): AI assistant for business travel that automates planning, books based on preferences, and adapts to real-time changes.
- Placeaa (India): AI-powered platform for agencies and tour operators that streamlines bookings, CRM, and smart travel recommendations.
- ImmersiVision (Canada): AR and VR platform enabling immersive travel bookings through 3D tours and real-time engagement analytics.
- CarbonFly (Italy): Blockchain-based digital registry for SAF certificates that enables tokenized carbon offsets for flight emissions.
- Axai (India): ONDC-powered conversational app for influencers to deliver AI-led travel planning, booking, and monetization.
- Dyme (US): Eco-travel platform that funds renewable energy projects through hotel and airline profits while reducing trip costs.
- DoROAD (Netherlands): AI-native enterprise platform using travel data and natural language processing (NLP) to generate adaptive itineraries and insights.
- Videreo (Switzerland): AI monetization tool that turns travel content into geo-linked storefronts with direct bookings and commissions.
- ConciergeNow (US): Virtual concierge for hotels using AI to automate services, deliver local tips, and boost guest satisfaction.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights Emerging Travel Companies & Startups to Watch
Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 7M+ startups, 20K+ technology trends plus 150M+ patents, news articles & market reports, we identified some of the best travel companies and startups.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights emerging travel solutions you should watch in 2026, as well as the geo-distribution of 2500+ travel startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.
According to our data, we observe high startup activity in the US and India, followed by Germany. The top 5 Startup Hubs for Travel are London, Bangalore, Dubai, Berlin, and New York.
Meet Emerging Travel Companies & Startups to Watch [2026]
We hand-picked startups to showcase in this report by filtering for their technology, founding year, location, funding, and other metrics. These travel tech startups work on solutions ranging from AI-powered virtual concierge and ONDC-powered conversational apps to immersive booking and AI-powered travel assistants for work.
1. iWander
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: London, UK
- Use For: AI Travel Agents
iWander provides an AI travel agent platform to create fully branded chatbots and assistants across pre-booking, post-booking, and in-destination touchpoints.
The startup provides a plug-and-play interface that allows travel brands to configure, deploy, and monetize custom AI agents. It does so by importing products, selecting affiliate partners, and tailoring workflows without code.
The platform allows brands to increase pre-book, generate targeted ancillary upsells on messaging channels, deliver geo-localized recommendations and curated itineraries via a white-label app.
Moreover, the integrated analytics dashboard captures real-time traveler data, provides actionable insights, and guides offer optimization with no upfront costs.
2. Otto
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Seattle, US
- Use For: Business Trip Planning Automation
- Funding: Raised USD 6 Million in August 2024
Otto provides an AI-powered travel assistant that uses machine learning (ML) and calendar integration to automate business trip planning.
It leverages AI models to monitor trip disruptions in real-time to provide quick alternatives when changes occur. This AI travel assistant ensures that business trips are smooth, efficient, and tailored to business needs.
Moreover, this AI-powered travel assistant streamlines booking by finding the best options based on past preferences and patterns. It also automatically applies reward programs and consolidates bookings across airlines and hotel chains into a unified dashboard.
3. Placeaa
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Surat, India
- Use For: AI-led Travel Booking & CRM
Placeaa develops an AI-powered travel tech platform that is designed for travel agencies, tour operators, and corporate travel teams. The platform streamlines bookings, customer relationship management, and business insights within a single dashboard.
Moreover, the AI learns from the existing business data and customer behavior to recommend improvements and optimize its offerings. This platform delivers real-time updates for bookings, payments, customer inquiries, invoicing, and syncs data across all touchpoints to save time, reduce errors.
Placeaa also generates smart travel suggestions, automates workflows, and provides insights that allow travel businesses to improve efficiency and increase sales.
4. ImmersiVision
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Whistler, Canada
- Use For: Immersive Travel Booking
ImmersiVision enables immersive booking for travel and hospitality businesses. The platform uses AR and VR to generate high-definition virtual tours and embeds interactive 3D environments into partners’ booking platforms.
Further, the platform integrates with booking engines via developer-friendly application program interfaces (APIs) and white-label options. This enables businesses to access real-time analytics that track engagement and conversion metrics.
5. CarbonFly
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Milan, Italy
- Use For: Blockchain-led Registry for Offsetting Flight Emissions
- Funding: Secured EUR 100K-500K in funding
CarbonFly tokenizes sustainable aviation fuel certificates on a blockchain-based digital registry. The startup aggregates eligible sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits from the aviation fueling network and records each token’s environmental attributes on a power-efficient blockchain.
This enables travel providers and passengers to issue, trade, and purchase tokenized certificates to offset flight emissions and earn rewards. Moreover, it creates the first liquid market for SAF certificates by linking airlines, fuel distributors, and travelers through a transparent exchange.
Want to Explore 2500+ Travel Startups & Scaleups?
6. Axai
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Ahmedabad, India
- Use For: ONDC-powered Conversational Travel Planning App
Axai develops an open network for digital commerce (ONDC)-powered conversational travel app for influencers. It uses an AI-driven chat interface to interpret user preferences and query multiple ONDC marketplaces for flights, hotels, cabs, metros, buses, trains, and activities.
Moreover, the app embeds affiliate links into influencer content and delivers real-time analytics on engagement and earnings. This solution enables personalized itinerary planning, one-click booking across all transport, and continuous AI assistance during trips.
7. Dyme
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Austin, US
- Use For: AI-driven Platform for Eco-friendy Travel
Dyme builds an AI-powered platform for eco-friendly travel. It analyzes member profiles and global rates to uncover wholesale deals at hotels and airlines.
The platform channels profits into renewable energy projects that deliver clean electricity to schools and communities while lowering local power costs. It also integrates with existing corporate perks and affinity programs that enable businesses to significantly reduce travel expenses.
Further, the startup provides personalized support to guide travelers through tailored itineraries and sustainable choices. It turns business trips into a built-in clean energy investment at no extra cost, improving employee satisfaction, strengthening corporate responsibility, and reinforcing brand loyalty.
8. DoROAD
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Zoetermeer, Netherlands
- Use For: AI-generated Itineraries
DoROAD offers an AI-native enterprise intelligence platform to generate optimized itineraries. The platform leverages cloud-native microservices and custom-trained machine learning models to collect travel data and external indicators such as weather, events, and risk feeds.
Moreover, the startup employs advanced natural language processing (NLP) 0for intuitive planning and adapts in real time to disruptions. It does so by enabling proactive rebooking or rerouting suggestions.
9. Videreo
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Zurich, Switzerland
- Use For: AI-led Monetization for Travel Content Creators
Videreo provides an AI-powered monetization platform for travel content creators. It leverages AI to analyze existing social videos, detect destinations, and match content with bookable tours, activities, and services from leading travel brands.
The platform also converts each post into a geo-mapped storefront by syncing creators’ social accounts and embedding a widget or link in their bio. Moreover, it secures above-market commission rates by negotiating agent-level deals.
10. ConciergeNow
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: New York, US
- Use For: AI-powered Virtual Concierge
ConciergeNow provides an AI-powered virtual concierge platform for hotels to streamline operations and provide tailored interactions.
The platform utilizes algorithms, NLP, and ML to analyze preferences, deliver personalized recommendations, and provide real-time assistance. The recommendations include hidden gems, local experiences, and popular attractions aligned with individual interests.
Moreover, the platform integrates with hotel property management systems to automate routine tasks, reduce staff workload, and maintain continuous availability.
Discover All Emerging Travel Startups
The travel startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free Travel Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies & emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2026!
