Travel Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 33,000 cities and 192 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions. No global movement springs from individuals. It takes an entire team united behind something big. Together, we work hard, we laugh a lot, we brainstorm nonstop, we use hundreds of Post-Its a week, and we give the best high-fives in town. Headquartered in San Francisco, we have satellite offices in Dublin, London, Barcelona, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, Berlin, Moscow, São Paolo, Sydney, and Singapore.

Humoniq is building the first AI-Native BPO for the travel & transport industries, which outsource $20B of customer support each year. Our AI-native approach improves speed, accuracy, and satisfaction. Our team is uniquely equipped to solve this challenge. We previously grew a travel management company, Flightfox (YC S12), to $22M/yr. We handled thousands of customer requests each month, which exposed the limitations of traditional outsourcing.

Riviera builds AI Employees for Hotels. Our first agent is a hotel phone receptionist that lets hotels spend less time answering phone calls and more time helping customers. Our system handles front-desk inquiries, in-room dining orders, and reservations. It answers every question instantly and in any language, 24/7. We are solving a problem that older phone systems and IVRs can't: customers hate not being able to talk to someone immediately, but most travel businesses can’t dedicate additional staff to manage phone lines. Voice AI has always seemed out of reach because the technology infrastructure in the travel industry is often fragmented, with reservation systems, loyalty programs, and in-house operations software that weren’t designed with voice AI in mind. Riviera addresses this by integrating seamlessly with existing software providers and using human-sounding voice models that are highly trained on data specific to each business type and department. Hotels spend hundreds of billions annually on staffing and risk losing potential revenue when phone lines are overwhelmed or callers hang up. By enabling them to handle unlimited calls, day or night, Riviera unlocks additional revenue and eases labor challenges.

Blaze (YC S24) is global Venmo for cross border payments. It's a peer to peer payments app that uses USDC to make payments fast and cheap between any two people anywhere in the world. The founders scaled their last startup to $1M in ARR, studied mathematics and engineering at Duke, NYU, and Cornell, and have led teams at Spotify, Artsy, and Bitpanda. They're live in the US and Mexico, available for download on iOS and Android: https://blaze.money

At Moreta, we simplify payments for international travelers, letting you pay for anything using just your phone. Done is the hassle of searching for the best cash exchange rates or ATMs on your next trip. With Moreta, paying local merchants is easy. We came up with Moreta while on our own backpacking adventures. Watching locals pay with a simple scan while we fumbled with cards and cash. So, we created a solution. By syncing with local payment networks, Moreta lets you pay like a local securely and digitally, without needing a bank account in every country. We’re starting in Asia, where QR code digital wallets are taking over and are now the top choice at checkout. As these wallets start to join forces for cross-border payments, Moreta is the first to bridge the gap for international travelers from card-centric markets to tap into these local networks. Moreta will target 200 million travelers arriving in the region each year, who together have $410 billion in everyday expenditure.

ProhostAI is building an AI Property Manager for short-term rental hosts on Airbnb and other platforms. Our team consists of an ex-Airbnb Staff Data Scientist and Dropbox Sr Software Engineer who are also Superhosts with 9 properties worth $15M making $1.5M/yr.

Stardrift is an AI travel agent. We help our users plan flights, hotels and activities for their trips.

Triply (Formerly Tripitaca) is the operating system for travel businesses in Africa. We eliminate operational chaos by unifying payments, Invoicing, payroll, accounting, operations, and more into a single platform allowing travel businesses to execute and sell more efficiently.

Rove is building the first accessible and universal airline mile, redeemable across dozens of international airlines and hotel chains worldwide.

Pointhound makes it easy to earn and redeem your credit card points for free flights. We're driven by our mission to make the world more accessible through travel.

Roame is flight search engine design for credit card points and miles. We help travelers redeem their points for dream vacations in seconds rather than days. At Roame, we are on a mission to revolutionize travel and consumer finance. We stand at the intersection of travel tech and fintech.

TeamOut is a retreat platform for team managers. We offer easy-to-book venues for team retreats. Managers spend months planning for a retreat. We help them do it in just a few days. How? We offer 20+ bedroom private places with robust Wifi that companies can book in a few clicks. This is an incredibly exciting time to meet with your team again, build memorable experiences that your team will remember forever.

API for Travel companies to sell airport transportation. Helping them increase their profits by up to 20% per transaction

Portão 3 is Ramp for LATAM. We are the frictionless way for companies to make payments. The company is founded by Fernando, second-time entrepreneur with past successful exit and ex-CPO of large IT consulting firms in Brazil and Bianca, experienced entrepreneur that handled payments for Cargill and funded startups in travel and growth. We've grown bootstrapped from the beginning and we were in the Y Combinator S21 batch.

With Ancana, you can own a 1/4 or 1/8 share of the home and split expenses with the other co-owners. If you buy a 1/4 share of a home, you have access to it for 3 months of the year. For each property we set up the investment trust, find qualified co-owners, and handle the entire real estate purchase transaction. Costs are split amongst the co-owners, and we take care of the furnishing and ongoing property management. We accomplish this by creating an investment trust for each property and dividing it into individual, purchasable shares that represent ownership in the property. We furnish each home and find and vet the co-owners. Once all of the shares of the property are sold, we retain no ownership stake in the property and transition into the role of property manager, ensuring the home is well maintained and handling any issues that arise. Unlike a timeshare, Ancana owners own a real asset (the property) versus a block of time. If you decide you want to sell your share, you are free to do so at any time, either through us or on the open market, and capture any appreciation the property has accrued.

Stayflexi is a revolutionary platform designed to simplify hotel and vacation rental operations, while increasing revenues from unsold rooms and amenities. By harnessing the power of automation, Stayflexi eliminates the need for manual processes and provides a seamless, positive customer experience for guests. Founded by computer science majors from Carnegie Mellon and Cornell, Stayflexi was born out of the need to solve the problems experienced by hosts and travelers. With Stayflexi, you can rest assured that your guests will be given the best possible experience and that you will be able to maximize profits on your unsold rooms. Stayflexi platform is helping over 3000 hotels in 16 different countries and growing rapidly.

Zingbus runs safe and affordable bus services between Indian cities. We aggregate small bus companies and optimize schedules and pricing for them, thus increasing their revenue.

Your free money back to you with the trust of your own bank. Individuals and corporations to claim back their value-added tax globally.

GuruHotel is building the AI-native booking protocol that will power direct hotel reservations in the next decade, effectively becoming "Stripe for hotel bookings" and ending OTAs' $370B stranglehold on hospitality distribution. For 25 years, hotel ecommerce has been broken. Independent hotels lack the infrastructure to sell directly online, forcing them to pay OTAs 20-40% commissions on 40-60% of their bookings. Hotel websites don't convert (<0.5% vs. 5-10% in modern ecommerce), booking engines redirect users, payments are fragmented, and inventory is trapped in legacy PMS systems. More critically: AI agents cannot book hotels directly today. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, none can complete a hotel transaction end-to-end because inventory isn't exposed in a machine-readable format. GuruHotel has built the complete solution: a full-stack ecommerce platform (website + native booking engine + checkout + payments + AI-ready APIs) that integrates directly with hotel PMS systems, enabling both humans and AI agents to book directly.

OutRival's AI Agents make outbound calls, send texts, and write emails for enterprises in education, insurance, and travel. We drive revenue through millions of proactive conversations monthly. Companies go live in under 2 weeks.

Wanderlog is the one-stop app for planning your next vacation, with a focus on excellent design. You can track your plans in our collaborative document, discover new places to visit and hotels to book, and share travel advice with friends and fellow travelers.

Gordian is pioneering seamless, personalized travel powered by world-class software. We don’t remodel legacy platforms — we invent what's next. Built on the values of freedom, impact, and ownership, we emphasize in-person collaboration, deep thinking, and bold execution. We believe in a high-talent, low-ego team with the energy to build something extraordinary.

Any business - from travel startups to financial enterprises - can build with Duffel. Shop flights and accommodation, purchase extras, manage bookings and more.

Easol is the all-in-one platform for managing your entire experience business, on your terms. Sell directly on your own website with smart booking, payment, and marketing tools that all work together, brilliantly. We believe that with the right tools, anyone can turn their passion into an empire. So we made them – and brought them together to work in sync, all in one place. We call it Experience Commerce. It's e-commerce specially designed for selling experiences and especially designed for experience creators.

Airfordable is payment plans for airline tickets. The service allows users to secure tickets with a deposit upfront and pay the remaining balance in recurring payments before the departure date.

Shred Video, a new startup launching out of Y Combinator, allows users to take footage from their iPhone, GoPro or drone and simply match it with a song from the user’s iTunes library. That’s all. Shred Video does the rest of the work. Taking into account the acceleration of the camera itself, Shred Video can pin-point the moments of action for surfers, snowboarders, skaters and other acceleration-based sports to highlight all of the coolest clips in your footage. And beyond that, Shred Video matches those epic moments with the beat-drop of the song.

At Tab, we’re revolutionising the way travellers discover, plan and book a trip. The Guide lets travellers find and book anywhere — with helpful recommendations from friends & local experts, rather than bland listings with endless reviews. Planning your trip should be a joy, not a chore! We help people to travel responsibly, by booking direct instead of using traditional booking sites. Travellers get the best price and they help local businesses avoid unnecessary fees. Travel experts, content creators and the friends you always ask for recommendations can use The Guide to showcase their favourite places to stay and things to do. When you book one of their recommendations, you’ll get a discount from the business and they receive bonus credit to say thanks. The Tab platform gives independent tourism businesses the tools to improve their online presence, be discovered, take direct bookings — and also to take payments. Our payment platform is uniquely designed for tourism businesses, handling over 100 currencies natively, and every payment type securely and easily. As travel returns after a difficult period, it’s time for a fresh approach. That’s why we’re building a social commerce platform for tourism — helping to spread the benefits of tourism far and wide, and helping travellers make the most of their precious time abroad. We're headquartered in London, and backed by Y Combinator (the investors behind Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe).

Roomstorm has developed the airline industry's first ever fully automated platform for providing hotel accommodations to distressed passengers during flight disruptions. This platform gives airlines the opportunity to directly connect to hotel inventory all over the world, or to give their teams an advanced web portal for the rapid processing of their passengers.

Guesty’s property management software provides property managers and management companies with an end-to-end solution to simplify the complex operational needs of short term rentals. With Guesty, users can manage listings from multiple online travel agencies including Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda and TripAdvisor, and utilize the company’s guest-centric tools including: Unified Inbox, Automation Tools, 24/7 Guest Communication Services, Payment Processing and more.

Reebee is the best way to browse and distribute flyers. The reebee mobile application makes it easy for customers to browse and discover local flyers, stay organized with an integrated shopping list, search products and much more. Available for free in Canada on the Apple App Store, Google Play, and BlackBerry World. Reebee specializes in targeted flyer distribution, engaging the consumer audience through a rich mobile experience. Digital distribution not only fills in the voids of physical distribution, but it also reaches a new audience with distinctly measurable results. Track consumer buying signals like never before.

Flightfox is a travel management platform for organizations with complex travel needs. We combine technology with human expertise to plan, search, book, monitor and manage global and group travel. We typically work with study abroad programs, humanitarian organizations, and other organizations with global reach.

SkyLink is transforming corporate travel into a hassle-free, efficient experience. By integrating advanced route optimization and reducing the need for traditional travel agents, we're not only saving companies millions but also simplifying the travel process. With SkyLink, employees can effortlessly book their travel, just like sending a Slack message. Trusted by leading global corporations, our platform acts as a pocket-sized travel agent, ensuring smart, cost-effective travel decisions and a smoother journey for everyone involved. SkyLink is where simplicity meets innovation in corporate travel.

Flok offers end to end company retreat planning. Flok combines a planning dashboard with human retreat designers to provide your team with the best retreat possible. From booking hotel room blocks to planning and executing the ideal itinerary, Flok has you covered.

Solve (YCS17) provides airport fast track, customs, and concierge services in over 470 airports worldwide. Whether it's departure, arrival, or transit, we've got you covered.

NexTravel is a platform for companies to manage and streamline travel. We help companies get access to corporate/group negotiated rates for hotels, cars - making booking travel easier and more cost-effective. Email us at travel@nextravel.com or go to https://www.nextravel.com/ to find out more.

Bluesmart is a global travel company that became famous for creating the world's first smart connected luggage. Its first product, the Bluesmart Carry-on, launched in October 2014 through Indiegogo and raised more than $2M in pre-orders from more than 10,000 backers in 120 countries worldwide. It was named "Top Innovative Product and Service"​ by Forbes Magazine, awarded "Best Travel Gear"​ by Fast Company and “Best of the Best"​ Red Dot Design Award. The company is backed by Y Combinator and other top Silicon Valley venture investors. Bluesmart is headquartered in New York with offices in Hong Kong, China and Argentina.

Rocketrip cuts a company’s travel costs by incentivizing employees to spend less on their trips. When employees get to keep a portion of the savings they generate, they start to treat the company’s money like it’s their own. Rocketrip’s software combines real-time travel prices, company policy, and a suite of patented algorithms to set customized budgets and predict what a trip should cost. Business travelers beat their budgets by making cost-conscious choices like booking in advance, selecting a cheaper hotel, or staying with friends. The company saves money, and the employee earns actual rewards. Rocketrip provides comprehensive reporting and seamlessly integrates into any existing corporate and expense technology stack. If you want to rein in business travel costs while improving corporate culture, visit rocketrip.com

VaycayHero takes the hassle out of booking vacation rentals. All rentals are verified, and 100% accurate, and calendars and pricing are automatically updated. This means, no surprises, ever. Search and book online hassle-free, or chat with a booking concierge if you need help. VaycayHero has vacation rentals in major vacation destinations in the US and Mexico. It built a travel hub platform to distribute the rentals to multiple channels including Vaycayhero.com and powered many marketplaces to provide a hassle-free booking experience.

Hipmunk is making travel planning simple and delightful. The site and mobile apps save you time by comparing top travel sites so you don't have to. The unique display makes it easy to visually compare results and choose what's best for you. Hipmunk brings in travel options ranging from commercial flights to trains to charter flights and accommodations ranging from large hotels to home and apartments rentals through Airbnb and Homeaway. Users can find less agonizing flights with the innovative flight search “Agony” sort, as well as the best hotels and home rentals with the hotel search “Ecstasy” sort. Hipmunk is one of TIME Magazine’s “50 Coolest Websites,” TIME Magazine’s “50 Best Smartphone Apps,” Travel + Leisure’s “Best Websites of 2012,” Budget Travel’s “Top 10 Most Useful Websites,” and Inc.’s “Best Booking Website.” Co-founders Adam Goldstein and Steve Huffman were named to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s “Top Tech Entrepreneurs,” Forbes “30 Under 30” and Inc.’s “30 Under 30” lists. The company launched in 2010, is based in San Francisco, and has funding from IVP, Ignition Partners, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Webb Investment Network, Quest Hospitality Ventures, and several angel investors.

MyVR provides short-term rental businesses the ability to simplify and centralize the management of their marketing channels - Airbnb, HomeAway/Vrbo, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia and more - from a single dashboard, while also providing these businesses with their own online presence to grow their direct sales channel. MyVR's easy-to-use software also allows short-term rentals to streamline and automate day to day tasks, saving time and money, reducing errors, and improving the experience of travelers. MyVR's open platform also connects the MyVR core software seamlessly to other best of breed applications and services.