Holiwise, a London-based AI-powered travel agency has raised a €1.45M pre-seed in an oversubscribed round backed by senior executives from global firms including Bank of America, Barclays, Google, and Goldman Sachs.
The raise was led by Bobby Previti, head of SSA and covered bond trading at Bank of America, and joined by Ulf Nilsson, Nordics & Eastern Europe CEO at DHL, who has also been named to join the Holiwise board; Sabri EL JAILANI and Filippo Zorzoli of Barclays Investment Bank; and Houman Ashrafzadeh, founder of Padium and co-founder of Urban Greens.
The pre-seed round coincides with Holiwise’s integrations with some of the travel industry’s most influential platforms.
HBX Group and Amadeus have been confirmed as a couple of those integrations.
These partnerships enable the platform to offer end-to-end trip planning and booking – spanning flights, stays, and experiences – across more than 10,000 destinations worldwide.
Together, its hoped the fresh capital and industry partnerships will be used to accelerate development of Holiwise’s AI travel agent and dynamic packaging models, as well as expand platform capabilities, and scale its premium concierge service.
“We’ve identified a clear gap in the market between mainstream online travel agencies and high-end travel concierges,” said Albin Eriksson Lippe, CEO and co-founder of Holiwise.
“Premium travellers are underserved, often forced to choose between impersonal, self-serve booking platforms or expensive concierge services that are slow to access.
“Holiwise is building an AI travel agent that combines the convenience of technology with the quality of a tailored luxury experience.
“It can instantly plan and book complete personalised itineraries, including synchronised flights, premium stays, and curated experiences for individuals or groups.”
Bobby Previti, lead investor, added: “I agree with the founders’ vision that there is a gap in the market for premium travellers.
“Holiwise is taking an innovative approach to solve the problem, with an exceptional team that understands the problem well.
“I strongly believe that the team is in the right place at the right time, working towards a vision that I’m keen to support.”
Holiwise uses proprietary deep learning and dynamic packaging models to create its personalised trips in seconds.
Users can personalise trips by mood, budget, location or timeframe, and book entire packages – including flights, accommodation and activities – with a single click.
The platform is already live with tens of thousands of monthly users and over 80% of customers returning to book again.
