Spring might have arrived but there are few green shoots when it comes to startup funding in the travel industry.
Investors continue to hedge their bets with smaller checks across more startups and a preference for later-stage companies with proven business models as well as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven startups.
Figures from Phocuswright's Travel Startups Interactive Database reveal approximately $1 billion went into startups across 44 rounds in the first quarter of 2026. This is down from the same period in 2025 when there were 66 rounds totalling almost $1.2 billion.
In its monthly travel technology and mobility newsletter Lufthansa Innovation Hub also supported the trends as it pointed to decade-low deal activity.
“Travel-tech funding is still tight and extremely selective,” said Bobby Demri, founder and managing partner of ROCH Ventures. “The green shoots are companies with provable ROI that use APIs and AI to connect legacy stacks, execute across systems and lift margins on asset-heavy businesses—not ones that just recommend. If you’re building features and you’re not AI-native, you’re mostly out.”
So far Q1 of 2026 has continued much the same as 2025 with a handful of Series A rounds and one or two other bright spots. And funding trends were not confined to the west, with Asia Pacific travel startups also experiencing harsher conditions.
Unsurprisingly autonomous vehicle companies continue to attract large rounds as they look to further their artificial intelligence (AI) developments and scale internationally. Waymo raised $16 billion in the quarter while Waabi, which has partnered with Uber to expand into robotaxis, secured $1 billion.
Elsewhere across the industry, Mews announced a Series D round of $300 million, Kindred landed $125 million and Eterniti, a luxury vacation rental company, secured €30 million.
Most other rounds announced were Series A with Germany-based revenue management system Happyhotel raising €6.5 million and community travel platform Wanderon securing $5.9 million. Meanwhile, flight booking startup Volz raised $5 million and Weather Promise raised almost $13 million.
HeyMax, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2026, landed $11 million, also in Series A funding. And there was further activity from our class of 2026 as BizTrip AI raised pre-seed funding of $1.5 million.
Some good news for early-stage companies also came from Gharage Ventures, which launched its €40 million Fund I targeting early-stage companies "across automation, AI-driven workflows, data infrastructure [and] travel-tech services, as well as logistics and supply chain innovation.”
A further noteworthy piece of news in Q1 was Travelport’s announcement of a $50 million investment from its shareholders. The capital is earmarked for AI developments.
Interesting acquisitions
Moves across the acquisitions landscape painted a slightly more interesting picture. In many cases the big are getting bigger with, for example, Capital One acquiring Brex for more than $5 billion. Others looked to diversify their offering through acquisition such as bus and rail ticking specialist Flix acquiring airport shuttle provider Flibco.
Meanwhile, guest travel platform Juno was bought by spend management company Ramp and Bilt acquired travel commissions management specialist Sion.
The ground transportation segment experienced some consolidation with Indian online travel agency Ixigo acquiring Spain-based Trenes and Kombo scooping up Kelbillet. And late in March Uber announced its acquisition of chauffeur service specialist Blacklane.
And Destinia boosted its portfolio with the acquisition of Travel Republic and Netflights, while B2B flights platform Etraveli Group acquired Wenrix.
Other notable acquisitions in Q1 included Amadeus’ purchase of SkyLink, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2026. And Chain4Travel, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2025, was acquired by Travel Token Marketplace.