OpenAI Acquires Odessia, travel startup created by Sonder founder

OpenAI has acquired Odessia, an AI travel agent startup, according to its founder Francis Davidson, who announced he is now working for OpenAI to help shape the future of travel. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the move appears to be an acqui-hire. Odessia, about a year old, had raised a $6 million pre-seed round led by Sequoia and launched its AI travel agent roughly five months ago; it had helped early adopters plan millions of dollars in travel but has already been shut down. OpenAI did not announce or confirm the acquisition, and has not revealed travel-specific products, though it counts Booking.com, Expedia, and KAYAK as customers or partners. Davidson is known for founding Sonder in 2014, which grew into a unicorn with $143 million in revenue but eventually went bankrupt and wound down after a Marriott partnership fell through; its brand assets were sold to TravelAI in 2026. Silicon Valley often values such battle-scarred founders, and it remains to be seen what OpenAI has planned.

(Source：TechCrunch)