Nicer, a travel planning and booking solution that "supercharges" travel advisors through the power of AI, announced that it has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Trip Ventures and a group of travel industry leaders. The funding will be used to scale travel advisors with Nicer's underlying technology.
Nicer aims to democratize access to the benefits of working with elite travel advisors by augmenting their irreplaceable human touch and access to exclusive perks with artificial intelligence to grow capacity, expand profit margins and deliver bespoke travel experiences.
"Travel is a trillion-dollar industry plagued by inefficiencies that cost time and money," said co-founder and CEO Ragan Stone, a career travel advisor. "Nicer solves this problem by harnessing the power of AI to craft highly customized experiences while preserving the personalization and insights of travel advisors. We are thrilled to have the support and confidence of our investors who share our vision of introducing more travelers to the benefits of working with travel advisors."
A recent survey of travel advisors revealed that 60 percent view AI positively and nearly half want to use it in their business. "Nicer is on the leading edge of the next wave of innovation that will fundamentally transform the way travel advisors do business," said Shane O'Flaherty, Microsoft's global director of Travel and Hospitality and member of Nicer's board of directors.
"AI is changing the world around us, and Nicer is changing how travel advisors blend high-tech with high-touch to deliver more perfect travel experiences," said Angie Licea, president of Global Travel Collection, an influential collection of international luxury travel advisors.
Nicer's board of directors and advisors is composed of leading figures in travel and tech, including Shane O'Flaherty, global director of Travel, Microsoft; Angie Licea, president, Global Travel Collection an Internova company; Gilad Berenstein, founder at Brook Bay Capital and board member of Virtuoso; Javier Villamizar, operating partner, Softbank; Lee Thomas, former COO of ALTOUR, an Internova company; and Carlos Garcia, general partner, Trip Ventures.
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