Eddy Travels, an AI-powered assistant that helps users find flights, has just completed its first major investment with a $500,000 pre-seed round.
Techstars Toronto, Practica Capital and Open Circle Capital VCs led the round, which was mostly in convertible notes.
There was also participation from angel investors in the United States, Canada and the U.K.
The Toronto-based startup simplifies the travel experience by offering flight deals in chat apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Slack.
Since its debut in 2018, Eddy Travels has grown to over 150,000 users and 50,000 monthly applied searches.
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The company will use the funding for expanding the AI assistant capabilities, including building out its natural language processing, and entering new markets beyond flights.
Speaking to PhocusWire this week, Eddy Travels CEO and co-founder Edmundas Balčikonis says that “flights definitely have very competitive margins.”
“We want to expand into other products, make our accommodation search better, make our car rentals better, go into tours and activities, expand into travel insurance and other categories.”
With the new offerings, Balčikonis says that Eddy Travels can “make both the full planning and booking process frictionless and simple on a chat app.”
“The idea is that in one conversation you'd be able, in two minutes, to get everything that you need for a trip by just sending a voice message or text.”