Tech and AI
OpenAI acquires AI travel assistant Odessia and brings in founder Francis Davidson
Developing
- What happened
- OpenAI bought Odessia, a year-old AI travel planning start-up, for an undisclosed sum.
- Why it matters
- OpenAI says travel planning is an area where ChatGPT users frequently ask for help.
- What’s next
- Odessia has shut down; OpenAI has not announced a travel product.
Full story
The deal
OpenAI has acquired Odessia, an AI-powered travel assistant, Turkish tech outlet Webrazzi reports. The financial terms were not disclosed. Odessia's founder, Francis Davidson, has joined OpenAI, where he will work on the company's efforts around the future of travel.
Odessia was founded only a year ago and had raised a 6 million dollar pre-seed round led by Sequoia. It launched its assistant about five months ago, helping users plan trips through AI agents. Davidson said the platform had planned millions of dollars worth of travel for its early users. Odessia shut down its service after the deal.
Why travel matters to OpenAI
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that Davidson had joined and said travel planning is one of the areas where ChatGPT users frequently ask for help, according to Webrazzi.
The deal ends Odessia as a stand-alone product. Webrazzi reports that the service closed after the agreement, and that OpenAI has not yet said what kind of product, if any, it will build in travel planning. It is also not known how much OpenAI paid.
The company has not announced a new travel product or plan. Webrazzi notes, however, that travel platforms such as Booking.com, Expedia and KAYAK are already among OpenAI's customers or partners, and that ChatGPT Agent, introduced in July 2025, listed travel planning among its possible uses.
A second travel venture for Davidson
Odessia was Davidson's second major venture in travel, after Sonder. He founded Sonder in 2014, and the company focused on short-term rentals of upscale apartments in large cities. Odessia came roughly a decade later, this time built around AI agents rather than apartments.
According to Webrazzi, Sonder at one point reached 143 million dollars in revenue and unicorn status, but it went bankrupt after financial problems following the pandemic and the collapse of a planned partnership with Marriott.
This story comes from a single outlet; no other source in this bulletin's window had reported it yet.
