Costanoa Ventures leads Formation, Seed, and Series A stage investments in companies that change the way the world does business.

Costanoa Ventures

At Forerunner, we believe in a better way to invest. We’re a venture capital firm focused on understanding the mindset of the modern consumer and identifying the people poised to deliver what they need. We believe that when entrepreneurs are poised to meet consumers not just where they are today but where they’re going to be tomorrow, they become more than just founders — they’re forerunners. By supporting them with funding, strategic wisdom, and consumer insight — our “CQ” — we help transform industries and drive culture forward.    We’re a San Francisco-based team of veterans and visionaries from multiple disciplines. What unites us is a shared belief that “good enough” just isn’t good enough. We’ve used our combined expertise to support trailblazing brands like Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, Hims & Hers, and dozens more.

Forerunner

American Express Ventures is American Express's strategic investment group. They invest in innovative startups in order to enhance American Express’s core capabilities and accelerate the company’s efforts in consumer commerce and B2B services.

American Express Ventures

Mindtrip

Mindtrip operates as an AI assistant that provide travel data that includes maps with suggested places to visit.

Mindtrip, founded in 2023, is an AI-powered travel platform that offers personalized trip planning experiences. The company's technology leverages large language models, natural language processing, and a proprietary knowledge base to enable travelers to plan trips through an interactive chat window. Mindtrip's AI assistant provides inspiration, recommendations, and helps users build detailed itineraries within a single application. The platform combines conversational elements with rich visuals, geospatial data, and booking capabilities, allowing users to view photos, maps, and detailed information about locations or points of interest mentioned by the AI without leaving the interface.&nbsp;

Travel Tech

Mindtrip Launches New B2B Solution for the Tourism Industry, Leveraging Advanced AI to Turn Travel Inspiration Into Action

Mindtrip, founded in 2023, is an AI-powered travel platform that offers personalized trip planning experiences. The company's technology leverages large language models, natural language processing, and a proprietary knowledge base to enable travelers to plan trips through an interactive chat window. Mindtrip's AI assistant provides inspiration, recommendations, and helps users build detailed itineraries within a single application. The platform combines conversational elements with rich visuals, geospatial data, and booking capabilities, allowing users to view photos, maps, and detailed information about locations or points of interest mentioned by the AI without leaving the interface.&nbsp;Mindtrip's focus on personalization allows users to specify their travel preferences and constraints, which the AI factors into its recommendations and itinerary building. Users can further customize suggested itineraries through a combination of dialogue and direct manipulation. The company aims to consolidate various aspects of trip planning into a single, user-friendly application, making travel recommendations actionable and customizable. In addition to its consumer-facing product, Mindtrip plans to provide its tools to travel industry partners, including tourism boards, travel agencies, airlines, and hotel chains. The company was founded by ecommerce veterans, including CEO and co-founder Andy Moss, and is based in Silicon Valley. Mindtrip launched its platform in May 2024, positioning itself as an AI-first, vertically-focused player in the travel tech industry.

Sonder is a short-term rental startup that acquires and refurbishes apartments in popular urban areas and offers them for rent through various channels, including Airbnb, Expedia, and its own website. The company typically enters into three- to five-year leases (including fixed leases and mixed leases) or revenue-sharing agreements with landlords to occupy entire floors of buildings. Sonder’s contracts include provisions that reduce rates during economic downturns, such as a clause that decreased rents by 8% during the pandemic. Unlike other home-sharing firms that have faced difficulties with local lodging regulations, Sonder either holds hotel licenses or operates in buildings that permit short-term rentals.&nbsp;Its apartments offer hotel amenities, such as professional cleaning services, fresh designs, and a concierge service accessible through an app. With the help of its app and digital door locks, guests can check-in to their rooms without any face-to-face interactions. As a result, Sonder's offering was well-suited for maintaining social distance during the pandemic. Sonder aims to extend its reach by expanding to other regions, including Asia. Sonder is also planning to broaden its offerings to include properties such as resorts, villas, and residences. Moreover,&nbsp; Sonder aims to establish a franchise model and sell its software solutions to outside operators. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20463">July 2023 </a>, Sonder launched its first hotel collection, ‘Powered by Sonder’, a collection of boutique hotels, each with its own distinctive design aesthetic, utilizing Sonder's technology and operated by the company.&nbsp;As of January 2023, Sonder served more than one million guests in more than 9,000 live units, across more than 40 cities and 10 countries. It expected to grow its portfolio to 56,000 units by 2024.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27990">March 2024 </a>, Sonder lost some properties to competing companies such as Kasa Living, Placemakr, AvantStay, and Blueground. The shift in property management occurred after Sonder attempted to renegotiate lease terms or exit from master leases.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32761">In August 2024</a>, Sonder signed a licensing agreement to sell 9,000+ of its units to Marriott International with plans to integrate an additional 1,500 units into the Marriott system in the future. Previously,In September 2022, Sonder partnered with RateGain Travel technologies to strengthen its presence on the GDS by introducing its own dedicated chain code titled SS. The company also partnered with Hotel Engine, a lodging performance network, to offer its services to its network of over 550,000 business travelers (October 2021).&nbsp;

Sonder

Ukio is a Barcelona-based company that provides short-term rental apartments directed at remote workers and other professionals on the move. Ukio offers rental apartments for stays ranging 1–11 months, with an average stay of four to five months. Guests can book for a set period and have the option to extend their stay through the company's online platform. Ukio signs 7- to 10-year leases for its apartments with individual property owners, real estate developers, and family offices.Ukio’s rentals range from EUR 1,750–5,000 (~USD 1,900–5,400) per month. The monthly payment covers utilities, maintenance, taxes, and all the standard amenities included in a hotel stay. Each apartment includes a concierge and reception area, with some having additional services, such as weekly-cleaning facilities. As of August 2024, Ukio operated in Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Berlin and Paris and planned to expand to other cities such as London, and Dublin.

Ukio

NUMA (formerly known as Cosi) is a German provider of alternative accommodation that offers short-term rental units in over 3,000 locations in cities like Berlin, Munich, Rome, and Vienna. The company signs long-term leases with property owners and remodels the apartments by furnishing and designing the interiors, before renting them out as a hotel alternative. NUMA uses automation and smart pricing to increase occupancy rates and provides a comprehensive digital service for the entire guest experience by reducing booking and check-in/checkout timing to less than 60 seconds. NUMA differentiates itself from similar companies like Sonder by targeting a broader demographic and offering a “tech franchise” solution called “NUMA Go,” where third-party hoteliers can use NUMA's technology for a share of their revenue. NUMA also offers B2B travel solutions through its dedicated corporate booking team and its offering of corporate travel rates.In June 2021, NUMA expanded its services to Spain, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic by acquiring local short-term rental provider, Friendly Rentals. NUMA planned to further expand its operations in existing and new markets, such as France, the UK, Ireland, and the Nordic region. Additionally, NUMA made plans to enter the Portuguese market with the opening of a 77-unit hotel in Lisbon in Q2 2024.

numa

TravelPerk offers business travel options for customers. TravelPerk is headquartered in Barcelona and has additional offices in London, Berlin, Chicago, and Miami. The platform uses proprietary technology to provide booking, management, and reporting for business trips. It allows travellers to compare and book various modes of transportation, such as trains, cars, flights, hotels and apartments from various providers including KAYAK, Skyscanner, Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb. The company aims to provide flexibility to travellers while giving companies control over travel expenses.In November 2021, TravelPerk launched “TravelPerk Events” to bring dispersed teams together for face-to-face meetings. To make in-person meetings more sustainable, TravelPerk also provides customers with the option to estimate their carbon footprint and neutralize their emissions, achieving this through the acquisition of Susterra (September 2021). This also includes GreenPerk, a sustainability tool that directly reduces carbon emissions through initiatives run by its partner, Atmosfair. Other notable acquisitions included that of AmTrav (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=101">June 2024</a>), UK-based rival, Click Travel (July 2021) and US-based rival, NexTravel (January 2021).TravelPerk uses a subscription- and commission-based business model that includes a freemium plan, with paid plans starting at USD 99 per month and commission fees starting at 3% per booking.Key customers and partnershipsTravelPerk struck a partnership with Southwest Airlines in January 2021 to broaden its US-based inventory, becoming one of the first non-US travel management companies to enter a partnership with the airline company. Other partners include Lufthansa Group Airlines, Midnight Trains, Divvy, and Skyscanner.TravelPerk doubled its customer acquisition rate in 2020 and catered to more than 6,000 businesses, including brands like Wise, Farfetch, GetYourGuide, and Monzo, as of September 2024

TravelPerk

Omio is a Berlin-based travel platform that allows users to search, compare and book transportation options across Europe, the US, and Canada. Founded in 2013 as GoEuro, the company rebranded to Omio in 2019 to reflect its expanded global presence. Omio's platform aggregates and displays train, bus, flight, ferry and car rental options from over 1,000 transportation providers across 37 countries. Users can compare routes, prices, and travel times across different modes of transport in a single search.The company's technology integrates directly with transportation providers to offer real-time pricing and availability. Omio generates revenue through commissions on bookings as well as service fees. As of 2022, Omio's platform facilitated enough ticket sales to fill 30 trains and 300 buses daily. The company has seen significant growth, with ticket bookings in 2022 reaching 140% above pre-pandemic levels. Omio has also observed a shift toward mobile bookings, with 80% of tickets now purchased via its mobile app.Key customers and partnershipsOmio has partnerships with hundreds of transportation companies across Europe and North America, including major providers like Renfe, Deutsche Bahn, SNCF, Flixbus, and Amtrak. In 2022, Omio partnered with Uber to integrate its inventory into the Uber app in the UK, allowing Uber users to book train and coach tickets. In 2023, Omio collaborated with Ecosia to launch a "tree-planting rail travel search tool" that promotes train travel as a more sustainable transport option. Omio has also integrated its booking capabilities into platforms like Kayak and Huawei devices.&nbsp;In August 2024, Omio announced a partnership with Ryanair to sell the airline's tickets as an approved online travel agent.

Omio

Platforms to search, compare, plan, and/or book flights, hotels, buses, trains and travel packages.

Platforms to search, compare, plan, and book alternative lodging in privately owned properties, including apartments and homes

Platforms to search, compare, plan, and book tours, events, and other travel-related recreational activities

Providers of corporate travel management solutions that help businesses with planning, controlling, tracking, and reporting on business travel activities, as well as distribution solutions and B2B booking engines

Car rental and ride-sharing solutions for long-distance travel

Providers of battery-powered luggage products equipped with technologies such as USB charging, built-in scales, TSA-approved locks, and real-time location tracking via GPS and cellular networks

Providers of technology-enabled solutions to enhance the guest experience, such as contactless and automated check-in services.

Providers of technology-based solutions for accommodation providers, tour/experience operators to optimize revenue and operations.

Some solutions under the B2B travel solutions segment operate under a B2B SaaS model

Some online search/booking and revenue management solutions use AI/ML for product development

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 AI-enabled travel planning platform Mindtrip garnered USD 12 million in a funding round headed by Costanoa Ventures and Forerunner Ventures. This follows their previous funding round of USD 7 million in late 2023, taking their overall funding to USD 19 million.
 This capital is allocated for Mindtrip's product development and improvement for the next two to three years. The company aims to create various income channels such as commissions from travel bookings and offering AI tools for destination marketing organizations.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 The travel tech industry is increasingly embracing GenAI, with startups and established companies driving the trend. In <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/28109"> April 2024 </a> , Stippl raised funding to enhance its platform by integrating GenAI and developing AI trip planners. Following suit, in <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/29442"> May 2024 </a> , Expedia launched Romie, an AI assistant to enhance travel planning.

Mindtrip

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