The place are they now? Catching up with the Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2021

It’s been 5 years since PhocusWire named its Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2021.

As we gear as much as announce our class of 2026 startups, within the coming weeks we’re checking in with the previous lessons of Hot 25 Travel Startups from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

It’s price remembering that many of those have been firms based across the time of the pandemic. Some, resembling Space Perspective, Smooss and Volara, have been acquired, whereas others, resembling Buser, have attracted important funding rounds.

Many of the category of 2021 have grown and undergone modifications, resembling Zamna launching two new international markets, Tripkicks experiencing 50%+ income progress and Troop Travel releasing Troop Partner. 

Some responses have been edited for brevity.

Zamna

Zamna delivers a next-generation passenger journey doc approval, working invisibly contained in the airline and with out the necessity for apps.

CEO Irra Ariella Khi:

• Highlights for 2025… 2025 has been a breakthrough 12 months for Zamna. Our digital identification infrastructure now powers identification verification for over 25 million passengers yearly, throughout main airline teams and authorities businesses. We launched into two new international markets and doubled the variety of energetic airline deployments.

One instance: with Iberojet, Zamna helped obtain a 100% discount in handbook doc checks and a 72% drop in airport processing time for passengers who verified pre-departure. It’s a transparent proof level of how seamless, upstream identification validation drives actual operational ROI.

• The greatest problem I’m coping with presently… is scaling at velocity in a extremely regulated, risk-averse business. We’re modernizing legacy airline infrastructure whereas navigating fragmented identification frameworks and safety requirements throughout markets.
• My view on startup funding… there’s been a shift from growth-at-all-costs to a concentrate on fundamentals. Investors are doubling down on infrastructure performs with deep tech, clear industrial worth and powerful margins. It is a extra disciplined atmosphere, which aligns nicely with our mannequin.
• The applied sciences or improvements that excite me essentially the most are… as a result of… synthetic intelligence (AI) that augments quite than replaces. At Zamna, we’re utilizing AI to speed up identification validation and improve fraud detection throughout advanced knowledge units. But what excites us most is how AI can elevate human decision-making, empowering airline brokers and groups with sharper, sooner insights, not changing them. That’s the place the true affect lies.

Tripkicks

Tripkicks is an add-on to enterprise journey applications that gives the instruments to affect traveler conduct.

CEO Jeff Berk:

• Our firm highlights for 2025…  50%+ income progress which feels actually good after working by means of some difficult years.

Getting higher at what we do – We’re bringing in new instruments and refining how we work so we are able to higher serve our enterprise shoppers, whereas working extra effectively.

Planning for the long run – We all the time attempt to take heed to our shoppers and watch market shifts to see what changes we must always make and the way we must always take into consideration the long run. That responsiveness has helped us keep related and preserve discovering methods to ship worth. We’re doing the identical course of now, besides it is much less about modifications in our market and extra about modifications in what’s now potential.

• The greatest problem I’m coping with presently… is taking advantage of our assets whereas rising. We’ve constructed one thing we consider is exclusive and our shoppers appear to agree, however now it is about scaling that thoughtfully. The problem is rising with out dropping the non-public contact that our enterprise shoppers anticipate from us, and doing that with the assets we’ve got. It retains us targeted and inventive about how we function.
• My view on startup funding… the present atmosphere undoubtedly rewards firms with actual income and confirmed enterprise fashions. For these of us who began pre-COVID, we had a number of years that did not go as anticipated, and that actuality influences how we take into consideration timelines and capital going ahead. But there’s something to be stated for the startups that made it by means of these years – it constructed resilience and required a concentrate on fundamentals. Business journey is a tricky business, however it was even harder when it didn’t exist.
• The applied sciences or improvements that excites me essentially the most are… as a result of… It’s onerous to think about anybody not saying AI – it actually is revolutionary. What excites me most is that it is enabling us to revisit concepts we would have subconsciously dismissed previously as a result of they simply weren’t reasonable to scale. You can apply this considering each methods – internally inside your group and operations, and externally in your product and consumer providers. We’re actively engaged on leveraging AI to enhance our inside operations and effectivity, and exploring the way it might rework how we ship our product to customers – by means of customized, clever content material.

Troop 

Troop is a cloud-based assembly planning and group journey logistics platform for firms that plan a number of in-person conferences a 12 months.

CEO Dennis Vilovic:

• Our firm highlights for 2025… this 12 months we launched Troop Planner, increasing our platform past serving to firms determine the place to satisfy to supporting the whole planning course of for small conferences — from agenda creation and attendee coordination to journey logistics and budgeting. Alongside this milestone, we’ve seen constant month-over-month buyer progress and have targeted on strengthening our group with new group members, higher inside processes and infrastructure to scale successfully.
• The greatest problem I’m coping with presently… our best problem, and largest alternative, has been managing a broad and impressive product roadmap. We persistently steadiness velocity and high quality to the market with our long-term imaginative and prescient. Our guideline is straightforward: concentrate on what delivers actual, fast worth to our prospects whereas guaranteeing the product stays scalable and differentiated for the long run.
• My view on startup funding… the funding atmosphere is extra selective than it was 4 years in the past. Investors are targeted on sturdy enterprise fundamentals and confirmed traction. We’ve been lucky to have the continued help of our current buyers, whereas additionally attracting new companions who consider in our mission. By staying disciplined with spending and progress, we’ve constructed resilience and positioned Troop as a sexy funding even in a cautious market.
• The applied sciences or improvements that excites me essentially the most are… as a result of… is reworking how conferences are deliberate and managed. In the journey business, I’m inspired by how AI is driving personalization and transparency, serving to firms plan with larger readability and affect. Using AI additionally has advantages in terms of our inside operations, particularly since we’re a world and distant group; it helps preserve our work environment friendly and on observe.

Kyte

Kyte is an API platform serving to airline and journey sellers to attach and distribute airline content material.

CEO Alice Ferrari:

• Our firm highlights for 2025… – signing two main low-cost carriers to promote their content material on our platform
• Biggest problem you might be going through presently… useful resource constrains to get extra airways on the platform
• Your view on state of startup funding… in case you are not utilizing AI it is more durable than ever.
• Tech innovation that excites you… I’m enthusiastic about MCP (Model Context Protocol), which standardises how AI methods combine with and entry exterior knowledge and instruments. For an API-based firm like ours this unlocks great alternatives over how Kyte can co-exist within the new world of AI.

Over the approaching weeks, as we meet up with a collection of our different Hot Travel Startups since 2021, we are going to proceed to look out for attention-grabbing AI initiatives, what their current milestones have been and the way they view the present startup funding panorama.