OpenAI acquires Odessia, AI travel startup founded by Sonder founder

OpenAI has acquired Odessia, an AI travel agent created by Sonder founder Francis Davidson, according to Davidson. Davidson said in a post announcing the deal that he is now working for OpenAI to help with the future of travel. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal appears to be an acqui-hire, and Odessia's tool has already been shut down.

Odessia's short run

Odessia was about a year old. It raised a $6 million pre-seed round led by Sequoia and launched its AI travel agent around five months ago. Davidson said it helped early adopters plan millions of dollars' worth of travel, but the tool has already been shut down. Davidson's announcement focused largely on how he built Odessia by directing teams of AI agents.

OpenAI and travel

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the hire to TechCrunch. "We're thrilled to welcome Francis to OpenAI. Francis is a proven founder who has built multiple businesses to help people travel, and we're excited he's chosen to build with us," the spokesperson said. The lab has not announced new travel-specific products or plans, but it counts Bookings.com, Expedia, and KAYAK as customers or partners. Travel is one of the main areas people use personal AI assistants to help with, and when OpenAI launched its ChatGPT agent in July 2025, it mentioned travel as one of its potential uses.

Davidson's Sonder background

Davidson is well known in the travel industry after founding Sonder as a college student in 2014. Sonder was sort of like Airbnb but focused on leasing upscale apartments in major cities worldwide. The pandemic badly hurt it; as it climbed out of that rut, it went public via a SPAC but did not raise as much money as it needed, Davidson later said in a post announcing his resignation as CEO in June 2025. When a key partnership with Marriott fell through, the company went into bankruptcy and wound down. The bankruptcy trustee sold Sonder's name, trademarks, and website domain in 2026 to TravelAI, and that website operates as a curated guide to the kind of travel rental properties Sonder was once known for. Prior to its downfall, Davidson had built Sonder into a unicorn with $143 million in revenues. While Sonder was not ultimately a success story, Davidson is the kind of battle-scarred founder that Silicon Valley often values.

Sources: TechCrunch