SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Gulmann, the former Senior Vice President of Consumer Product at Expedia, has launched a new startup aimed at transforming travel booking for smaller companies. His company, Otto, officially exits stealth mode this Thursday and is set to introduce an alpha version of its platform to a select group of U.S. users in September. Otto aims to streamline flight and hotel bookings through an advanced AI-driven system that processes natural language queries.
Otto has successfully secured $6 million in seed funding, with Madrona Ventures leading the investment round and Direct Travel participating. The funding also includes contributions from angel investors who have held executive roles at companies such as Expedia, Ortbiz, Uber, and Farecast.
The capital will be used to advance product development and expand the engineering team, providing Otto with a projected operational runway of two years.
Gulmann emphasized that while existing solutions like TravelPerk and Concur cater primarily to large enterprises, Otto is focused on addressing the needs of smaller businesses and startups that often lack dedicated travel management resources.
“Otto is designed to function as a high-end travel agent or executive assistant that not only recalls your preferences—such as preferred hotels and flight choices—but also understands additional details, like staying within a short distance of your meeting location,” Gulmann told TechCrunch.
This approach eliminates the need for users to repeatedly input their preferences and navigate through multiple travel sites and services such as Google Maps. Instead, Otto aims to provide a more intuitive and personalized booking experience.
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