Booking Holdings Plans $100 Million Investment in Seattle AI Startup Vayo
Booking Holdings plans a $100 million investment in Seattle AI startup Vayo, whose agents track price drops and sold-out hotels. Beta waitlist is open.
Booking Holdings is putting serious money behind a travel agent that wants to do your worrying for you. The company announced Wednesday a planned $100 million investment in Vayo, its new Seattle-based startup, which is launching in private beta with a waitlist at vayo.com.
The fine print: the intention to invest is subject to continued advancement of the product and market conditions, according to the release. It gives no timeframe for the money.
Vayo says its service pulls travel confirmations from a user's inbox, keeping the rest of the inbox private. Its AI agents then watch the bookings for price drops, openings at sold-out hotels and changes like flight delays. It works across platforms beyond Booking Holdings. Restaurant reservations work now, with flight and hotel booking expected in the next few weeks. Vayo plans to add direct booking, a native app and shared trip planning in the months ahead.
The beta is free and invite-only, aimed at frequent travelers. About 20 people work on it in person in downtown Seattle, led by CEO and co-founder Mike Fridgen.
Context: Vayo is Booking's second internally funded AI-native startup, following Lola, unveiled about two weeks earlier, according to Skift.
My take: a company that owns Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK and OpenTable just handed a 20-person team a greenfield mandate and a nine-figure, conditional check. "A trip isn't a task," says Fridgen. Neither is $100 million, darling, and I adore both.
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The release says "planned" and then adds an asterisk, which is a lot of hedging for a nine-figure number. It names no milestones, no timeframe and no model behind the agents.
Free beta, waitlist, invite-only. Restaurant reservations work today; flight and hotel booking is expected in a few weeks. I'll file the rest under announced.
