Year: 2025 | 2024 | 2023
PhocusWire has tracked the top investors in travel for the past couple of years to understand
where they see opportunity and are willing to place their bets.
This annual feature is part of our wider coverage of the startup ecosystem, which also includes our selection of the 25 travel startups poised to stand out in the coming year—known as our Hot 25 Travel Tech Startups list—published every November.
To date, PhocusWire has recognized 175 companies through the Hot 25 series, which dates back to 2018. Collectively, those startups have raised more than $3.3 billion dollars, according to Phocuswright’s Travel Startups Interactive Database.
Ability to attract investment is not the only measure of the health of the travel startup sector, but it has proved to be a meaningful indicator for an industry that is impacted by global events—from geopolitical conflicts and economic instability, to
climate change and IT meltdowns.
Across the wider travel startup landscape, Phocuswright has tracked nearly 8,000 companies that have received more than $230 billion in funding from more than 11,000 rounds since 2005.
While the data shows that travel tech funding totaled $5.8 billion in 2024, a slight increase from $5.3 billion in 2023, it is on track to decline again this year. Q1 2025 funding and M&A slowed down, with investments totaling under $1 billion. By the end of May, that figure edged up to $1.1 billion.
The number of rounds hit an all time low in 2024, although some in the investment community have said the picture might be artificially skewed. Cara Whitehill, vice president of Thayer Investment Partners and founder of Unlock Advisors, said late last
year that it is possible fewer deals are being publicly reported.
Many were pinning their hopes on increased investment in the sector because larger investors such as Accel and General Catalyst had raised new funds—but this doesn't seem to have materialized yet.
However, there have been some bright spots, including Hostaway's $365 million, Flyr's Series D round of $295 million led by WestCap, TravelPerk’s Series E of $200 million and Klook’s $100 million.
Top travel tech investors 2025
To bring more transparency to travel investors' activity and strategies, PhocusWire first published a list of the top investors in travel technology in 2023.
The list is based on analysis by Mike Coletta, Phocuswright senior manager of research and innovation, and Stan Pawlow, Phocuswright data analyst.
Similar to last year, the analysis highlights the investors that are most active or are contributing the most non-debt funding to the ecosystem. Since the specific amounts of contributions by each investor in each funding round is generally not publicly
available, the analysis zeroes in on those who invested in at least three travel companies between May 2024 and May 2025 and/or have a specific focus on travel and stated plans to invest more.
Based on those criteria, following is the list of top travel tech investors and a sample of the companies they have invested in during the specified time period, with links to our coverage of the startups' funding as applicable.
“For the second year in a row, Thayer and Antler top our list. It's great to see their commitment to travel hold firm in the face of technological, financial and economic uncertainty, But as I said when we started this initiative in 2023, the vast majority
of investors make infrequent investments in travel startups. Thus, it's natural to see a lot of rotation. Yet over the longer term, we do see many of the same names coming up, such as Y-Combinator, Highgate Ventures and Kinnevik,” Coletta said.
“One other thing to note: There seem to be more bridge and secondary rounds happening these days, which often aren't announced publicly, so they could be missing from our data.”
Investor insights
PhocusWire also reached out to many of the travel startup investors on the list to get their sentiment on the landscape, how they work with their portfolio companies, hype around artificial intelligence (AI) and outlook for funding.
Some responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
How has the way you work with portfolio companies changed over the past five years?
Gaurav Tuli, partner at F-Prime Capital: A lot has happened in five years. We’ve swung from euphoric highs to historic lows and back, but the travel sector proved something many hadn’t yet internalized: It’s incredibly resilient, and
global demand is insatiable over the long term. Now that the realization has sunk in, the industry’s mindset has shifted. We’ve gone from playing defense to scaling with ambition. With a stronger VC market and billion-dollar travel tech companies
now scaling rapidly, founders and boards can aim higher. Our role today is to push expansive thinking, open doors to global leaders across and beyond travel, support M&A strategy and build category-defining companies.
Sarah Finegan, associate partner, Antler: As Antler has grown, both in the U.K. and globally, our portfolio has expanded significantly, which means we’ve had to build more scalable, structured ways to support founders. That said, we remain
very hands-on. We act as sparring partners from the earliest stages, helping founders pressure-test ideas, sharpen execution and move faster. It’s a mix of breadth and depth: structured support at scale, combined with the deep, hands-on support founders
need in the early days.
Cara Whitehill, vice president of Thayer Investment Partners: We've expanded our team to bring on more operating expertise across both travel tech and hospitality, which is already paying dividends for our portfolio companies. Having
team members who have been there, done that when it comes to growth and go-to-market strategy is proving a terrific resource for our portfolio teams and a differentiator for startups looking for a true value-add capital partner.
Billy Fox, investor at Active Partners: Four years ago, Active launched an early-stage fund alongside our growth fund, which has brought in a network of more than 200 LPs, the majority of which have operated, advised or founded businesses
in the consumer space. Our founders get access to the collective knowledge of our LPs, our broader network across the consumer ecosystem and our team's experience scaling consumer brands over 20 years—giving them an unfair advantage.
Gilad Berenstein, Brook Bay Capital: I have spent most of my adult life as a startup founder and CEO and only the past several years as a professional investor, and I have always approached my role as an investor, board director and/or
advisor in the same manner, which is as a thought partner, advisor and confidant for the founders. That will not change.
Over the past five years, I have doubled down on one key macro advantage I have as an investor and professional board director, which is the flywheel of ideas and insights that I have constructed over the past decade. This flywheel of knowledge enables
me to support my portfolio companies—and many other companies I care for—by helping illuminate the road ahead, where demand will be, what the M&A markets are likely to do, where AI is heading, where to focus their gaze and how to optimize their efforts.
How are you seeing the hype around AI impact the startup landscape?
Fox/Active Partners: As consumer investors, we’re particularly excited about founders who are using AI in thoughtful, creative ways to improve the consumer experience and build competitive advantage, as well as really commercially savvy
founders who are using it to optimize internal operations and efficiencies. One of the exciting shifts in travel is around the search and discovery layer, where AI is enabling the evolution from static filters to dynamic discovery and planning tools
that are hyper-personalized for consumers. Ultimately, though, we still believe that brand, storytelling and community are core moats in consumer. AI can enhance these efforts, but it won’t replace them.
Berenstein/Brook Bay Capital: AI is a funny thing, it's both overhyped and under-hyped at the same time.
Yes, AI and more specifically AI startups are often overhyped. We see lots of startups that adopted AI six weeks ago building hype by pretending to have deep differentiated tech. We see investors, who two years ago were building hype for
and espousing expertise in Web3 and before that they knew everything about SPAC's, now claiming to have differentiated insights about AI, and buyers in the economy switching AI strategies quarterly. The key negative impact of the 'AI Hype' is noise
and confusion.
Founders need to take a deep breath. They need to focus on effectively creating actual ROI for their clients (not ROI in the form of hype but actual business ROI) and closely track and measure client KPIs to demonstrate value in a marketplace that is
noisy and full of unrealized promises.
Whitehill/Thayer Investment Partners: There was considerable market distortion early on in the cycle that saw a number of ideas get funded that weren't really ready for prime time. Most of those have been cleared out already. Now we're
on to the next sub-cycle and seeing a lot of activity around agentic AI, which built on that first wave. Many of those are probably not quite ready either, and we'll see another clearing of the market soon. So, I'd say the overall velocity of these
hype cycles is speeding up. Each cycle brings some intriguing new ideas and a handful of viable startups into the ecosystem that spur the next cycle.
What is your number one piece of advice for aspiring founders?
Whitehill/Thayer Investment Partners: It's really 1(a) and 1(b) because they are closely intertwined. 1(a): be obsessed with the problem, not the solution, and 1(b): make sure that problem is big enough and people are willing to pay you
to solve it.
Berenstein/Brook Bay Capital: Ignore the hype and focus on fundamentals. Find a real business problem or consumer pain point that has been around for a while, not one that somehow appeared a few weeks ago. Validate that there is an easy
and trustworthy way to demonstrate your startup's ROI for clients; in a world of endless hype, and one where the build versus buy decision is moving towards the build, the winners will be the ones with an indisputable way to measure and demonstrate
ROI. And most of all, focus! If the problem is real and lasting, you need not be distracted by the news of the day.
Finegan/Antler: Start with the team. The right co-founders can accelerate everything, from navigating early challenges to building momentum. Be obsessed with the problem you’re solving but know that a great team is what brings the solution
to life.
Tuli/F-Prime Capital: If you’re aspiring and haven’t started yet, ask yourself whether you will love the ups and downs of the journey as much as ringing the IPO bell someday. The mix of excitement, optimism and fear are normal, but if
it’s truly about the journey, then the best way to begin is to just begin. You’ll never be more ready than you are today.
What is your general outlook for startup funding across the travel industry for the next few years?
Finegan/Antler: While funding dynamics continue to evolve, we’re excited to see founders tackling major challenges and opportunities in travel from the earliest stages. The winners will be those addressing unsexy, operational problems
with fresh technology, not just chasing consumer hype. As a global day-zero investor, we back exceptional people first, and we’re seeing strong talent bringing real innovation into this space.
Tuli/F-Prime Capital: I’m optimistic, especially at growth and later stages, but that capital will flow earlier over time. The market has matured. Capital is more travel-literate. Scale outcomes are now real. The path from idea to IPO
is clearer, and travel tech has evolved from niche to full-blown category.
Fox/Active Partners: Travel remains a cyclical industry, and what sets the winners apart is building with a long-term view and having a truly defensible proposition. Demand is favoring more flexible, personalized and sustainable travel,
and startups tapping into these trends are well-positioned to attract funding. We’re also closely tracking the intersection of AI and travel and how startups are leveraging it to offer new and exciting consumer experiences, as well as enhance their
operations.