Mindtrip Raises $7 Million for AI Trip Planner: Startup Funding Roundup

08.09.2023 - 22:47 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

10 travel tech startups announced over $78 million in funding over the past two weeks. 

>>Mindtrip, a startup developing a trip planning and booking app powered by generative AI, has raised $7 million in seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures.

The San Francisco-based startup said it would release a public beta version of its product, which will be developed with an AI assistant as the foundation, before the end of the year.

The company said that the Mindtrip platform will allow users to plan and book destinations, flights, hotels, restaurants, and tours in one place, starting by inputting simple questions. It will also allow users to create and manage an entire itinerary. 

“Watching the evolution of who is traveling and how they plan … we saw an opportunity to create one place where people could combine the ability to discover, plan and book,” said Andy Moss, co-founder and CEO of Mindtrip, in a statement. “Where ChatGPT stops at text suggestions, Mindtrip incorporates photos, maps, pricing and availability data that lets someone actually plan and book their complete travel itinerary leveraging generative AI.”  

The startup was founded in 2023 by 12 people, including Moss and Trey Matteson, who co-founded vehicle ecommerce platform Roadster and sold it to CDK Global for $360 million in 2021. The founding team also includes Garrick Toubassi, who previously led the Gmail engineering team at Google.

>>Lydian, a producer of sustainable jet fuel made from carbon dioxide, has raised $12 million in seed funding. It was co-led by Congruent Ventures and Galvanize Climate Solutions, with support from Grok Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Overture VC, and Overlap Holdings.

Lydian also raised $3 million in June 2022 from Congruent, USV, Voyager, and Global Founders Capital. 

The Massachusetts-based startup said its proprietary technology produces low-cost fuels made from carbon dioxide and renewable electricity.

The funds will go toward building a pilot plant in 2024, which the startup said will be capable of producing more than 5,000 gallons of fuel per year. Lydian is already producing small quantities of the fuel in its lab.

Lydian also aims to produce versions of other industrial chemicals using carbon. 

“We believe fuels produced with our technology will consume less energy per gallon than any other e-fuel,” said Joe Rodden, Lydian’s CEO, in a statement.

“Lydian is the best-positioned technology we have come across in this space,” said Joshua Posamentier, co-founder and managing partner of Congruent Ventures. 

>>Allseated, an event planning tech platform, has raised $20 million funding, led by Level Structured Capital with support from Magma Ventures, Vestech Partners, NYFF, and WGG.

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