OpenAI acquires Odessia, an AI travel planning startup

In short: OpenAI has acquired Odessia, a young startup that built an AI travel planning tool, according to Odessia’s founder.

What happened

Francis Davidson, the founder of Odessia, said in a social media post that OpenAI has acquired the company and that he is now working at OpenAI on “the future of travel.” OpenAI did not announce the deal and did not confirm it to TechCrunch when asked.

Odessia launched an “AI travel agent,” which is a chatbot-like helper that can plan trips (think of it like a digital travel assistant you can talk to). Odessia is about a year old, raised a $6 million early funding round led by Sequoia, and launched its travel tool about five months ago. Davidson said the product helped early users plan “millions of dollars worth of travel,” but Odessia’s tool has already been shut down.

The price and other terms of the acquisition were not shared. TechCrunch noted it could be an acqui-hire, which is when a larger company mainly buys a smaller one to bring its team in-house.

Davidson is also known for founding Sonder in 2014. Sonder was often compared to Airbnb, but focused on leasing upscale apartments in big cities. Sonder later went public through a SPAC (a shortcut way to list on the stock market), then ended up in bankruptcy, and its brand assets were sold in 2026.

Why it matters

Many people already use AI assistants to help with travel, like finding flights, building an itinerary, and comparing options. OpenAI has not said what it plans to do next in travel, but hiring a well-known travel founder suggests it may be exploring new travel features for ChatGPT or partnerships with travel companies.

Source: TechCrunch AI