Thank you to the entire TravelJoy community, team, and investors for your continued support of our mission to bring the joy back into travel planning. We are excited to announce a significant milestone on our journey: $10M in Series A funding to bridge the gap between AI-only solutions and the personal touch of human experts.
Theresia Gouw, Founding Partner of Acrew Capital and former board member of Hotel Tonight and Trulia, led the investment, with participation from NFX, Founder Collective, Forerunner, and Concrete Rose and angel investors from notable companies like TripAdvisor, Booking Holdings, and more. We will use the funds to grow the team and continue investing in product and customer success.
Dayo witnessed the problems facing travel entrepreneurs firsthand while growing up in the industry supporting his mom’s travel agency business. We knew Acrew was a fit for our vision not just for their travel expertise and investing track record, but also when we learned that Theresia and Maitree Mervana (Acrew investor) also have close family members who were or are travel advisors.
With the recent proliferation of AI, our next focus is to ensure that its use can be truly impactful in our members’ planning workflows. AI is here to stay, but for travel advisors, this is the beginning of an exciting time, not the end. With AI, there are two visions of the world forming. One is the ‘Terminator,’ which is the belief that AI/robots are going to come and control or destroy humans and tell us what to do. The other is the ‘Iron Man suit,’ in which humans will be able to produce more amazing results, faster, with AI and modern technology at their side.
Like our co-founder Chris likes to say, “we are all in on the Iron Man suit,” and we are aiming to flip the script for travel entrepreneurs. Running a travel business has been 80% administrative overhead and 20% curation for far too long. Our vision is to shift the focus back to what truly matters – ensuring that travel entrepreneurs can dedicate their time to crafting unforgettable experiences for their clients. Thanks again to all of you for supporting us on this journey. If you are excited about our mission and want to join our team, we are hiring for multiple roles!
Onward,
Dayo and Chris
TravelJoy Co-Founders
p.s. It’s a long journey, and it’s just the beginning. As a thank you to all who have supported us along the way, we’re offering our largest discount on our annual plan ever. Until March 22, 2024, we will automatically apply 30% off the next annual purchase for new and existing members.
