Perspectives on the future of travel & technology.

At Phocuswright Europe 2026, a panel of travel investors and founders drew a sharp line through today's funding market: on one side, AI-focused companies still commanding capital and driving M&A; on the other, everything else, fighting for a shrinking pool. Amid that divide, PhocusWire singled out Thayer portfolio company Nuitée as one of the few travel startups still raising with real conviction.

Roger Sharp, chair of Web Travel Group and North Ridge Partners, put the M&A dynamic bluntly: "all of the money" moving through the market right now is flowing toward AI-focused companies. But panelists were equally clear that the "AI-native" label alone is no longer a moat. Callum McPherson, founder and CEO of Obvlo, drew a distinction we have been making with our own founders for the better part of two years:

“We use AI to build things, which we use to deliver those outcomes to the customer. If you could build AI into your own systems, workflows, your customers' workflows, you look less like a product company, possibly, and that in itself is a moat.”

— Callum McPherson, Founder & CEO, Obvlo

Nuitée, the hotel distribution API platform we backed in its $48 million Series A led by Accel, was called out on the panel as an "outlier" — a company still closing capital and expanding partnerships even as the broader travel funding environment tightens. Leyla Allahverdiyeva, Nuitée's SVP of Sales and Partnerships, pointed to the company's growing relationships with Revolut and Grab as evidence of that trajectory:

“Our partnerships have really grown, so in terms of that trajectory, it's looking very positive on our side.”

— Leyla Allahverdiyeva, SVP Sales & Partnerships, Nuitée

Sharp's closing framing is the one we would underline for every founder we back: "If you are early stage and adding significant value, meeting a need that someone has, you'll raise money. You're growing fast, your economics work, somebody needs you, you'll raise money." That is, and has always been, the filter we apply — irrespective of whatever label happens to be in favor at a given moment.

The travel funding market in 2026 is not short on capital; it is short on patience for undifferentiated software wearing an AI label. Nuitée's continued momentum — real infrastructure, real distribution partners, and a product deeply embedded in how hotels and travel platforms actually connect — is exactly the kind of durability we look for before we invest, and exactly what continues to compound after we do.

Thayer Investment Partners congratulates Super on closing a $65 million Series D financing round, led by TPG, that values the company at $1.2 billion. The round brings a new institutional anchor to a business we have long believed sits at the exact intersection of consumer fintech and travel value — turning everyday household spend into meaningful, recurring savings.

Since its founding in 2016, Super has helped members bank more than $1 billion in cumulative savings, and 2025 alone saw net revenue climb past $200 million, up more than 50% year over year. Super+, the company's flagship membership program, now counts nearly a million members who receive 10% cashback on hotel bookings, discounts of up to 40% off hotel rates, and access to a secured charge card and credit-building tools. Super+ members now account for more than half of all U.S. hotel bookings made through the platform — a striking sign of how deeply travel rewards have become the growth engine of the business.

“Super.com is building both [savings and convenience] – for the everyday household, where every dollar matters most.”

— Hussein Fazal, CEO, Super

The company is also strengthening its bench ahead of this next stage of growth, adding Shopify President Harley Finkelstein as a board observer and advisor, alongside Ryan Fujiu (formerly Bird and Uber) as Head of Product and Michele Lee (formerly Pinterest) as General Counsel. New capital will go toward expanding member value into additional product categories and accelerating investment in AI-driven personalization — a pattern we are now seeing repeat across nearly every consumer travel and hospitality platform in our portfolio.

Super sits in a category we find increasingly important: platforms that convert routine household spending into travel access and loyalty value, without requiring members to think like points-and-miles optimizers. Travel remains one of the largest and most aspirational categories of consumer spend, and we expect Super's model — cashback, discounts, and credit-building wrapped inside a single membership — to keep compounding as a result. We are proud to continue backing Hussein and the Super team as they scale this next chapter.

PhocusWire has named Thayer Investment Partners the #1 investor in travel tech for 2026 — marking the third consecutive year we have led the ranking, and the fourth straight edition in which we have been featured. We are the only firm to appear in every edition of the list since PhocusWire began publishing it.

The annual ranking measures the investors most active in, and most committed to, the travel and hospitality technology ecosystem. PhocusWire's methodology focuses on firms that deployed capital into at least three travel companies between May 2025 and May 2026, and/or those with a stated, specific focus on the sector — a deliberately narrow lens that filters out tourists from the asset class and recognizes the operators who keep showing up.

“Thayer tops the list for three years running and is the only firm to appear in all four editions — demonstrating remarkable conviction in travel through every twist of the market.”

— PhocusWire, 2026

That conviction is the point. Travel and hospitality have absorbed more than their share of macro shocks in the last several years — inbound demand swings, AI platform shifts, capital cycles tightening and loosening — and the firms that built positions through those cycles are the ones whose portfolios are now compounding fastest. We have spent more than a decade backing founders who are rebuilding the operational and commercial layers of this industry, and we have done it from the same seat, with the same thesis, every year.

The 2026 list also highlights a notable new entrant: United Airlines Ventures joined the most active investors with a series of AI-focused bets across trip planning, voice and operations. We read that as a constructive signal. The largest operators in travel are now deploying capital alongside the specialist funds — a sign that the AI-native rebuild of travel infrastructure is no longer an emerging thesis but the central one.

We are grateful to PhocusWire for the recognition, and to the founders, LPs, co-investors, and operators who make this work possible. The ranking belongs to them as much as it does to us.