Founder becomes head of travel on ChatGPT
Francis Davidson, founder of the AI travel agent "Odessia," wrote on X early on Nov. 15 Japan time that "this week my company was acquired by OpenAI and I now lead travel on ChatGPT." The same post asked users what they would like to see on the app and which trip-planning use cases they would like ChatGPT to handle well.
This week my company was acquired by OpenAI and I now lead travel on ChatGPT. What would you like to see on the app? Use cases you'd love ChatGPT to nail when it comes to planning a trip?
Davidson's X profile lists the title "Head of Travel @ OpenAI" and describes Davidson as the founder of Odessia and of Sonder, which Davidson took public. The post does not say how ChatGPT's travel features will change.
Acquisition announced in an article on X on Nov. 10
Davidson announced the acquisition itself on Nov. 10 (early Nov. 11 Japan time) in "OpenAI Acquires Odessia," published with X's article feature (X Article). The article said Odessia was acquired by OpenAI and that Davidson will be joining the team to focus on the future of travel. It said more on the shape of the future would be shared soon, and thanked the Odessia team, investor Sequoia, angel investors and partners across the travel industry.
OpenAI Acquires Odessia I’m thrilled to announce that Odessia was acquired by OpenAI, and that I will be joining the team to focus on the future of travel. I founded Odessia less than a year ago with the goal to ship the best AI travel agent in the market, and I believe we achieved that. Over $60M/year of travel was planned by Odessia over the past summer by tens of thousands of early adopters. Using AI to plan and book extraordinary trips is now a reality. We’ll have more to share on the shape of the future soon – but for now I want to thank my team, Sequoia and all the phenomenal angels who supported us, and our numerous partners across the travel industry who took an early bet on a startup pre-launch.
The price is not stated in the article or in the Nov. 15 post.
Founder says summer bookings ran at more than $60 million a year
According to the founder's post, Odessia was founded less than a year ago. Over the summer, tens of thousands of early adopters planned more than $60 million a year of travel with Odessia, the post said. The figure appears only in Davidson's article, and ORIENS has not verified it with other sources.
In the article, Davidson also wrote of previously founding Sonder and taking it from zero to $600 million in revenue, which took more than a thousand people and a decade. The article said Odessia used AI agents not only for software development but also for strategy, partnerships, design, marketing, customer support, legal and finance. Most of the article is devoted to describing this approach.
Odessia ends its service; no official OpenAI announcement confirmed
Odessia's official website displays the headline "OpenAI has acquired Odessia." It says the Odessia service is no longer available as part of the transition and that a support address handles changes to existing bookings and access to existing travel plans.
On Nov. 15 Japan time, ORIENS tried to check the top page and the blog, index and news pages of OpenAI's official website, but all returned a 403 error. As a result, an official announcement of the acquisition by OpenAI has not been confirmed. The acquisition and the title are based on Davidson's posts and profile and on the notice on Odessia's website.
OpenAI also announced on Nov. 4 (Nov. 5 Japan time) that it will acquire developer tools maker Pierre.
