AI startup Airial turns travel TikToks into bookable itineraries. Read its pitch deck that helped it land $3 million.
Airial has raised $3 million in seed funding to help vacationers distill social content into actionable travel plans. Montage Ventures led the round, which included participation from South Park Commons and Peak XV.
In addition to deriving itineraries from TikToks, Instagram Reels, and travel blogs, users can make and refine plans by entering information about their interests, budgets, and schedules.
"People don't want cookie-cutter trips," Airial cofounder and CTO Sanjeev Shenoy told Business Insider. "They want all of this heavily customized, and they want the rest of the pieces to be handled seamlessly."
The roughly two-year-old company was cofounded by Shenoy and Archit Karandikar, both avid travelers who left their engineering jobs at Meta and Waymo, respectively, to build Airial. The San Francisco-based company, with offices in India, has nine employees.
After launching a public beta last year, a mobile app will come in the third quarter, said Karandikar, Airial's CEO.
Rather than producing a basic list of activities, Karandikar said Airial uses AI reasoning, which drills down into "the hundreds of little constraints and dependencies that come up" while planning a trip. This includes logistics like choosing the closest airports and hotels to desired sites and the best connections for buses and trains.
Airial isn't the only startup looking to use AI to change the massive online travel agencies market. AI competitors include Mindtrip and Layla, while established players like Expedia are also forging partnerships with OpenAI and Google.
Karandikar said Airial focuses on user growth and eventually plans to make money by sharing revenue on hotel bookings and flights. It's also exploring advertising, freemium AI features, and a creator program where influencers can sell their itineraries.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lime's Long-Awaited IPO Is Finally on Track: Uber-Backed Scooter Startup Reports $686M Revenue and 'Cash Flow Positivity'
Lime, the electric bike and scooter rental startup backed by Uber (NYSE:UBER), has hired Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) to prepare for a U.S. initial public offering expected to launch next year, Reuters reports. Founded in 2017, Lime operates in more than 280 cities across nearly 30 countries, offering short-term rentals for electric bikes and scooters. According to Reuters, the San Francisco-based startup has been considering a public listing for several years, but the current uptick in IPO activity may provide a timely window to execute the move. Don't Miss: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. In February, Lime reported a 32% increase in net revenue, reaching $686 million for 2024. The company also confirmed that it was free cash flow positive for the second year in a row, a rare feat in the micromobility sector, which has historically struggled to stay afloat. Lime CEO Wayne Ting described 2024 as "an exceptional year" for the company, citing strong results across key financial and operational metrics, including record profits and expanded global reach. 'We grew profits faster than revenue in 2024, posting another record year of results through serving more than 24 million riders in hundreds of communities around the world and bringing Lime to more cities globally,' Ting said in a statement. 'While we saw record demand in 2024, we're just scratching the surface of micromobility's potential to transform cities and better connect people.' Trending: GoSun's Breakthrough Rooftop EV Charger Already Has 2,000+ Units Reserved — According to Reuters, the potential IPO follows a broader rebound in the U.S. public listing market, which raised nearly $27 billion in 2024 so far, a 45% increase compared to the same period last year. Although the total still falls short of the 2021 record of $177 billion, companies like Circle Internet (NYSE:CRCL), which recently raised over $1 billion through an IPO, have signaled growing investor interest in growth-stage tech firms, Reuters says. Lime's IPO may test investor sentiment in the micromobility space, where competitors like Bird have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, Reuters reports. Unlike others in its category, Lime received prior investment from Uber and is among the few micromobility firms still pursuing public markets. Uber led a funding round for Lime in 2020, at which time the company was reportedly valued at $510 million. According to Reuters, sources familiar with the matter expect the upcoming IPO to value Lime significantly higher than its last reported valuation, although exact figures have not yet been sustainability remains a core focus for Lime as it scales globally. According to the company, Lime riders helped avoid an estimated 20,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions in the last year by replacing car trips with shared electric vehicles. Lime estimates its service replaced over 43 million car trips in 2024 and prevented the consumption of roughly 2.2 million gallons of gasoline, equal to approximately 8.5 million liters. The company says it also continues to lower its own operational footprint. By offering electric scooters and bikes for trips under five miles, Lime says it aims to shift the way urban communities move while supporting city efforts to reduce traffic congestion and meet climate goals. Read Next: How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you?. Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Lime's Long-Awaited IPO Is Finally on Track: Uber-Backed Scooter Startup Reports $686M Revenue and 'Cash Flow Positivity' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why Affirm Holdings (AFRM) is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term
Taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for new and old investors alike. While you may have an investing style you rely on, finding great stocks is made easier with the Zacks Style Scores. These are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on value, growth, and/or momentum characteristics. Momentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Affirm Holdings, Inc. is a financial technology company specializing in payment solutions that provide consumers with flexible, transparent installment loans — both interest-free and interest-bearing — at the point of sale. By partnering with a diverse range of merchants, Affirm enables customers to pay for purchases over time. AFRM sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), holds a Momentum Style Score of B, and has a VGM Score of B. The stock is up 3.4% and up 24.2% over the past one-week and four-week period, respectively, and Affirm Holdings has gained 138.8% in the last one-year period as well. Additionally, an average of 5,613,633 shares were traded over the last 20 trading sessions. A company's earnings performance is important for momentum investors as well. For fiscal 2025, four analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for AFRM, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.12 to $0.03 per share. AFRM also boasts an average earnings surprise of 102.2%. Investors should take the time to consider AFRM for their portfolios due to its solid Zacks Ranks, notable earnings metrics, and impressive Momentum and VGM Style Scores. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Time Business News
2 hours ago
- Time Business News
nTrader wins top performing trading platform award at Forex Traders Summit 2025
nTrader, a UAE-based software development company specialising in financial technology, has been awarded the prestigious Top Performing Trading Platform 2025 at the Forex Traders Summit 2025 held in Dubai. The company's reputation in the industry is underscored by a series of prestigious recognitions and strategic sponsorships: Winner of Best Trading Platform 2024, Bronze Sponsor of The Forex Expo Dubai 2024, and Silver Sponsor of The Forex Traders Summit 2025, Dubai. 'At nTrader, our vision is simple, to give brokers and financial institutions the power to run their business on their own terms. We deliver a complete, cutting-edge trading platform with all the tools they need so they can focus on growth, innovation, and client success,' said Asdaque Riffat, co-founder of nTrader. More than just a traditional software provider, nTrader stands out in the fintech industry for its end-to-end solutions tailored to help emerging brokerage firms scale efficiently. Its robust platform and support tools are designed to simplify operations and enhance the client experience across the board. What truly distinguishes nTrader is its integrated suite of broker support tools, which go beyond trading software. These include Client and IB Portal CRM Systems, Copy Trading and Social Trading Platforms, and FIX API Liquidity Bridges connecting brokers to top-tier liquidity providers worldwide As the financial landscape evolves, nTrader remains committed to innovation, reliability, and client success. With its headquarters in the UAE and a growing global footprint, the company continues to set new standards in the fintech and brokerage technology space. For more information, visit: Disclaimer: nTrader is a software development company and does not offer any kind of financial services. The views expressed are company's own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
