Vilnius-based AI technology startup Eddy Travels is acquired by New York-based ancillary travel product marketplace TripAdd, part of the Blue Ribbon Bags group. With this acquisition, the two will join forces to contribute to the development of the marketplace and expand engineering and sales teams in Vilnius, Lithuania. The B2B chatbot services will be still in service and the team will continue to work in its existing office in Lithuania. They together are planning to launch a TripAdd ancillary marketplace with a number of international online travel agencies.
Eddy Travels offers B2B travel-tech solutions such as AI travel assistants and machine learning for language understanding or personalization. Founded in 2019, the company raised €1.5M from TechStars, Practica Capital, Open Circle Capital and angel investors. Eddy Travels has more than 4,000,000 users worldwide and also provides white-label services for other businesses in the travel industry such as Visit Dubai, Lithuanian National Airports and others.
“The whole team is excited to join the TripAdd family. We have been collaborating with them for some time now with great results,” says Edmundas Balčikonis. “With the growth back in the travel industry, the time is perfect for a merger. Both sides are eager to aid the travel industry recover faster.”
TripAdd views the addition of Eddy Travels as a strategic move and looks to expand the team.
Gabriel Menkin, Co-founder and CEO at TripAdd says: “At TripAdd, we were impressed with Eddy Travels’ team and technology from the first meeting. The technology talent pool in Lithuania is amazing, and we are especially keen to expand our R&D office in Vilnius. We are now hiring for multiple positions there. If you are excited about travel and artificial intelligence, join us to build the best new-generation travel tech.”
Eddy Travels was founded in early 2019 and specializes in chatbot AI technology in the form of a travel assistant. To date, the company has raised 1.5 million euros in funding. Over 4 million users have engaged with the assistant to find flights, hotels, apartments, tours, or activities worldwide from platforms such as Skyscanner, Booking, and GetYourGuide.
Edmundas Balčikonis, Co-founder and CEO at Eddy Travels explains: “TripAdd is growing in the global travel market and requires an automated omnichannel solution for marketing and sales operations. This is where our state-of-the-art AI chatbot solution will play a key role. TripAdd already uses an AI system for its recommendations which makes this acquisition a seamless transition for us as machine learning experts.”
Using TripAdd, companies can add ancillary travel products to their platforms and generate extra revenue from selling personalized bundles to their customers. Scaling is the primary objective for TripAdd since the travel industry is experiencing a rebound after the global COVID-19 pandemic. In some countries, the volumes of flights and bookings are surging back to pre-pandemic levels.
“This summer has shown that people are eager to travel abroad again since most have spent two years in their home countries,” adds Mr. Balčikonis. “AI technology is a hot topic in the travel industry since legacy travel distribution systems are being upgraded to new generation technology, and TripAdd will be one of the leaders in the space.”
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