Fora Travel, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2023, has raised $60 million in Series B and C rounds.
The funding was led by Insight Partners and Thrive Capital. Past investors such as Forerunner Ventures and Heartcore Capital participated as well.
Fora co-founder Evan Frank shared the news on LinkedIn and said the investment will be used "to modernize the travel industry for good."
"With today's news, we are confident our thesis will continue to be proven correct: By empowering a growing community to build careers they love, lowering the barrier to start and stay a travel entrepreneur, we've created a new channel of distribution for our partners that provides the best of all worlds -- higher quality clients at a lower overall cost in a single channel -- at scale."
The funding will also better position entrepreneurs in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the company said.
Founded in 2021, Fora aims to empower a new generation of travel agents, giving anyone the ability to earn income through bookings. The company has travel agents who "come from a diversity of backgrounds" throughout the U.S. and in 92 countries, Frank said in his post. The CEO also said Fora has surpassed $1 billion in sales.
Frank said travel is dominated by channels that he called "inferior for the travel provider and for the end customer."
"We see a historic opportunity to transform the entire travel booking experience, leveraging the best of humans and the best of technology, including AI," Frank said.
Source: PhocusWire