AI travel startup Airial has built a tool that can plan your holiday in seconds
One such player is Airial, a travel-tech startup founded by two former Meta engineers, Archit Karandikar and Sanjeev Shenoy, that promises to simplify the process. Its AI-powered platform creates personalised itineraries within seconds, covering everything from bookings to restaurant suggestions, all in one place.
Airial lets users input basic travel details, such as starting and ending locations, to generate a full itinerary. The platform includes flights, hotel bookings, local transport, restaurant suggestions, and tourist attractions. Users can either set their preferences up front or make changes after viewing the suggested plan.
The interface offers an overview of the entire trip, with clickable segments for daily plans. Users can explore each activity to view location, reviews, suggestions and alternatives. The tool also includes a map view that displays all the places scheduled for the day, helping users understand the distance and time required to travel between points.
It also accounts for transit time, wait periods at stations and the possibility of nearby day trips. In addition, the platform can answer queries about specific places and tailor recommendations to user preferences.
Social media and creator integration
One of Airial's newer features allows users to add content from creators. A user can link a blog, TikTok or Instagram Reel and add locations mentioned in the content to their itinerary. The tool can also surface relevant TikTok videos based on the user's destination and preferences.
Additionally, Airial supports trip sharing and collaborative planning. It has included cars and buses in multi-city travel options. Users can view trips created by friends and make modifications, bringing a social element to the planning process.
Founded by former Meta engineers
Airial was founded by Archit Karandikar and Sanjeev Shenoy, who were college friends in India. Karandikar previously worked in engineering roles at Meta, Google, and Waymo, focusing on AI-based products. Shenoy worked at Meta as well, with the Instagram Reels team.
The founders said their shared interest in travel led them to build a product that could function like a detailed digital travel agent.
'Most platforms just help you build a rough plan. We focus on logistics, connecting dozens of APIs and factoring in multiple parameters like transfer time, hotel proximity, and transit availability,' said Karandikar in an interview with TechCrunch.
The startup's AI model is based in part on research from a DeepMind paper called AlphaGeometry, which focuses on solving complex geometry problems. Airial combines this inference method with large language models (LLMs) to create personalised travel plans.
Airial has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Montage Ventures, with participation from South Park Commons, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India) and angel investors from companies like Meta, Dropbox, and UiPath.
The company claims to have 'tens of thousands' of monthly users. For now, its focus is on user growth rather than monetisation. In the near future, Airial plans to launch iOS and Android apps and add vertical search options for hotels, activities and influencer-generated content.
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