OpenAI Acquires Odessia, AI Travel Startup Founded by Sonder Creator

OpenAI has acquired Odessia, an AI-based travel assistant startup founded by former Sonder CEO Francis Davidson. Under the deal, Davidson joined the OpenAI team to work on the future of travel, while the Odessia app has ceased operations.

In a post announcing the deal, Francis Davidson stated that he has begun working at OpenAI on the future of the travel space. Odessia, which has a one-year history, had raised $6 million in pre-seed funding led by Sequoia and launched its AI travel assistant about 5 months ago. The tool, which helped early users plan millions of dollars worth of travel, was shut down following the acquisition. The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, is considered an "acqui-hire" move in the industry.

OpenAI has not officially announced the acquisition and did not respond to TechCrunch's inquiries. While the company has not yet announced any new travel-focused products or plans, travel giants such as Booking.com, Expedia, and KAYAK are among OpenAI's customers or partners. Having announced the ChatGPT agent in July 2025, OpenAI had pointed to travel as one of its potential use cases.