Throughout the travel industry, there is constant talk of the pace of change and the "early days" of agentic artificial intelligence (AI).
And as things ramp up, new technology enables innovators to move from idea to launch that much faster. Longevity and success prove more difficult.
To secure investment, travel startups must also show operator-level industry knowledge, a focus on a specific, underserved problem and real traction—all of which are defining characteristics of PhocusWire's Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2027.
Now in its ninth year, the Hot 25 list spotlights the emerging travel tech companies most likely to make an impact. Over the summer, the PhocusWire-Phocuswright team began closely analyzing a list of approximately 140 companies, determining the standouts across industry sectors and accounting for diversity among founding teams and regions.
The majority of this year's cohort are early stage, and roughly half were founded in 2025 or 2026. Most also fall within B2B, with five in B2C and two working across both business models.
The companies on this year's list are further entrenched in AI, with two thirds leaning into the tech, a slight increase from 60% estimated for the 2026 cohort.
"With AI everywhere, it's clear that it doesn't set a startup apart," said Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation at Phocuswright.
"Findings from our annual travel startups report, which will be out by The Phocuswright Conference, show that AI advantage can go to companies of any size. Our survey data confirms that startups have a natural edge in speed and are rebuilding their work around AI far faster than established companies. The tension is always that established companies already have the customers, supply and trust that still cost real money to win."
Travel investors are also less swayed by startups that describe themselves as "AI-native"—a term that has become somewhat ubiquitous—and integrating the technology rather than fully relying on it may be a better bet.
"Our funding data shows that AI-core (product depends fully on AI) startups won a bigger share of funding rounds this year than at any time since at least 2019, about one in four first rounds, yet their share of the dollars hasn’t moved. Instead, the money is flowing to companies bolting AI onto their existing products, which have taken more than 40% of equity dollars every year since 2024, about double their share from 2019 to 2023," Coletta said.
The stakes for the 2027 cohort
According to Phocuswright's latest data in the Travel Startups Interactive Database, the eight previous Hot 25 Travel Startups cohorts have raised approximately $4.1 billion across over 500 funding rounds. Looking ahead, the 2027 Hot 25 class is poised to set the tone, according to Coletta.
"Other than at the first round, funding is as tight as it has been in a decade, so getting a new travel startup off the ground is harder than ever. AI has made a travel startup cheaper to build than ever, but no cheaper to scale. That makes this year's class the test," he said.
"If AI lets them scale on far less money, startup funding may never return to its old levels. If scale still takes capital, the money will come back once these companies reach that point, and it will go to the ones that have won customers, not just built products."
The class of 2027: Full list of companies
We asked each founder to share details, in their own words, about their company, their strategic goals for 2027 and the keys lessons learned since founding. Each page also includes links to relevant PhocusWire coverage.
Click the company name below to learn more.
Catch up with previous Hot 25 Travel Startups
Leading up to the launch of the 2027 roster, we caught up with several of our Hot 25s, summarizing milestone moments since we last checked in and learning more about how they're seeing AI affect business.
Where are they now?
Annual announcements
Phocuswright's Innovation Platform
Phocuswright Innovation is a platform that fosters a vibrant and interconnected community of innovators, startups, investors and thought leaders contributing to the overall development of an innovation ecosystem in travel. Using this one link, startups can learn about all of the innovation related events and programs from Phocuswright and PhocusWire.