The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2023–2026
Layla's chatbot trip planner bets chat beats search; Expedia buys it in 2026
Berlin travel chatbot fusing short-form video and AI to turn inspiration into bookings: €3M seed, then an undisclosed Expedia acquisition in 2026.
Layla
What the business is
A Berlin travel app using conversational AI and short-form travel videos to recommend destinations, hotels and activities, and book trips with live pricing.
Starting capital：€3M seed (Nov 2023, Firstminute Capital and M13 led); about €5M raised in total
How it started
Founded in Berlin in 2023 by Saad Saeed (co-founder and tech director of grocery delivery app Flink) and Jeremy Jauncey (founder of travel content brand Beautiful Destinations, 26M+ Instagram followers), after research showed travellers spend 10+ hours planning a holiday and lose interest after 42 minutes. It raised a €3M seed in November 2023 led by Firstminute Capital and M13, with Booking.com's Andy Phillips, Skyscanner's Barry Smith and Paris Hilton participating.
What happened
Layla launched its chatbot product in late 2023, combining short-form travel video inspiration with AI chat and live-priced booking; total funding reached roughly €5M and the team grew to about 25 people before the exit.
How it ended up
Expedia Group acquired Layla in July 2026 for undisclosed terms. Layla keeps operating while its team works across Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Vrbo, feeding Expedia's pivot from one all-in-one AI concierge (Romie) to specialised multi-agent trip planners.
Background
Layla's bet was that travel inspiration now lives in short-form video on social media, while booking still happens through search boxes — and that a conversational AI agent could close that gap. Founded in Berlin in 2023 by Saad Saeed (tech co-founder of grocery delivery company Flink) and Jeremy Jauncey (founder of travel content brand Beautiful Destinations, with over 26 million Instagram followers), the startup fused AI chat with short-form travel video so users could go from inspiration to a live-priced booking in one conversation.
The company announced a €3 million seed round in November 2023, led by Firstminute Capital (Brent Hoberman's firm) and M13, with Booking.com's Andy Phillips, Skyscanner's Barry Smith and Paris Hilton also investing. By the time it was acquired, Layla had raised roughly €5 million in total and employed about 25 people.
Expedia Group announced the acquisition in July 2026 without disclosing terms, saying Layla would keep operating while its team works alongside Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Vrbo. Skift framed the deal as part of Expedia's shift away from an all-in-one AI concierge — its earlier Romie experiment — toward a multi-agent architecture of specialised AI trip planners.
What has to be true
- Travellers get inspired on social media but lose interest after about 42 minutes of planning, leaving a gap between discovery and booking.
- Beautiful Destinations' 26M+ Instagram audience gave Layla built-in travel inspiration content before it had users.
- The founders had complementary scars: Saeed built consumer tech at Flink, while Jauncey knew how to create travel content people share.
- An acquisition by Expedia in the 2026 AI-travel wave rewarded the team and technology even though the product had not proven large-scale consumer traction.
What can be applied
A small team with distribution and a timely AI feature can be acquired before proving the category — the exit rewarded product timing and tech talent, not market leadership.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Layla operates as part of Expedia Group: it continues as a standalone product while its roughly 25-person team works with Expedia's brands as part of the company's multi-agent AI strategy. Financial terms were never disclosed; total funding before the deal was about €5 million.
Sources
- Expedia Acquired AI Trip-Planner Layla: Exclusive
- Berlin-based Layla is fusing social media content and AI to reimagine travel discovery
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