Origin raised $5M to plan workcations with machine learning and curators (interview)

Origin is a luxury travel app that creates fully personalized trips with expert human support, built on machine learning tuned to the user's interests, values and connections.

Over $5 million raised, including a December 2021 seed, from Project A and Cavalry Ventures with angels David Rosenthal, Brad Klingeberg and John Johnson (self-reported in the interview).

Eli Bressert, who led Siri platform science and insights at Apple after data science roles at Convoy, Netflix and Stitch Fix, co-founded Origin with Tamar van de Paal during lockdowns, betting travelers would pay to hand off planning complexity.

Origin launched a 'Where Can I Go' feature to navigate COVID-era restrictions by user preference, and formalized workcations as a product: trips of seven days or more with curators selecting hotels meeting criteria like floor-to-ceiling windows, a wide desk, at least 100Mbps Wi-Fi property-wide, 24-hour room service and a stocked coffee station, plus morning wellness sessions before work blocks. Clients ranged from weekend-plus-work getaways to 40-day trips, the founders said.

Remote work turned a week of vacation into a week-plus of travel with a desk in it — a trip type with no playbook.

Planning complexity, not desire, was the constraint: two to three days of booking work per travel week.

Human curators catch what algorithms miss — changing regulations, cancellations — and justify premium pricing.

The founders' machine-learning pedigree at Apple, Netflix and Stitch Fix is the credibility behind personalization claims.

Ride the fresh behavioral crack, not just the trend: remote work created travelers whose trip has a desk in it — a segment generic agencies never designed for.

As of June 19, 2022, Origin was focused on the premium market with its seed behind it, weighing the right moment for a Series A and building an internal AI platform for its curators and partners.