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Fora hits $1bn by backing travel agents with AI
Fora raised a $60m Series D at a $1bn valuation, betting AI will make human travel advisors more productive rather than replace them.
Image: TNW
Fora — a startup built around human travel agents in a category many expected the internet, and later AI, to wipe out — has raised a $60m Series D at a $1bn post-money valuation. The round was led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, bringing total funding to $138.5m.
According to the company, its platform now has more than 15,000 active advisors, and 97% are new to the profession. Those advisors have booked over $3bn in travel, with growth speeding up sharply: the first $1bn took three years, the second eight months, and the third five months.
Founded in 2021, Fora operates as a two-sided platform. It gives ordinary people the tools to become travel agents, while helping travelers find advisors for trips ranging from honeymoons and safaris to family vacations. The advisor base includes former physicians, lawyers, traders, and retirees. Some use the platform for extra income; others book more than $10m in travel annually.
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Via AI assistant and Fora’s growth bet
Fora is putting the new funding into Via, an embedded AI assistant now in beta with its top advisors. The tool is designed to handle administrative work such as:
- destination research
- supplier knowledge
- itinerary building
- proposal generation
The idea is straightforward: let software absorb the back-office work so human advisors can spend more time with clients. Co-founder Evan Frank said the company sees AI as raising the ceiling for advisors rather than replacing them, arguing that expertise, relationships, and taste are much harder to replicate.
That thesis comes as demand for human advisors appears to be rising. LinkedIn ranked travel advisor the fifth-fastest-growing job in the US in 2025, a sign that an increasingly messy mix of booking sites, fares, and AI-generated travel content may be making trusted human help more valuable.
Competition from autonomous booking tools
Fora’s framing comes from a company in fundraising mode, and its investors are backing that narrative. Brian O’Malley of Tactile Ventures said Fora is growing faster than any other company in AI travel. That claim, though, has yet to be tested against a downturn or against more capable autonomous trip-booking software.
That threat is real. Trip.com, Expedia, and a wave of startups are building AI tools that can plan and book full trips without a human involved. If those products become good enough, Fora’s advisors will be competing with software as much as with other agents.
For now, Fora is using the new capital to expand Via, enter new markets, and push into cruises, flights, and enterprise — a direct bet that trust and taste still matter, even as AI takes over more of the workflow.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via TNW
