Points of fatigue is real. What started as a beautiful bonus for travel has developed into the spread of premium programs and arcanes conversions that require an advanced conclusion in statistics to manage it.
Brian Kelly made a whole career out of the household industry and had an ancillary job of maximizing the credit card and rewards to a blog, the point -Guy, which became a verifiable franchise. Now he argues that the point system has jumped into the shark. In addition to Lerer Hippeau and Slow Ventures, he supports the startup trip based in New York in a seed round of $ 7.7 million in order to get it back on the right track.
Perhaps this is too big a problem in the first world, but I am sure that many of the readers of this newsletter were disturbed when Chase announced an abstruse modification of her Sapphire reserve credit card or acquired as a Marriott Starwood. Who does not love fake internet money that can occasionally give you an upgrade of airlines or a free hotel evening?
John Sutton, co -founder and CEO of Journey, believes that the system needs a revision. Sutton, a long-time tech entrepreneur, met Kelly, when he worked as a Chief Digital Officer at Red Ventures, a media-oriented investment company that has brands such as bank rate, Lonely Planet and finally the Points Guy.
When Sutton left his role in 2021, he took a few years out to play professional volleyball before finding out his next company. After investigating the idea of investing in short-term rentals such as Airbnb real estate, he had the idea of building up a loyalty program for travelers. After consulting with Kelly, he found that there was only a broader problem short-term rents and many independent hotels who lacked the infrastructure to create reward systems, but these points in general were increasingly broken. “You have lost the magic of loyalty,” said Kelly to me. “There is a great opportunity to create a program that people are enthusiastic about.”
Journey’s website looks like a cross between a travel platform like Booking.com (an online travel agency in industrial) and an Instagram feed with lush excerpts of desert regulations and jungle trees. On the backend, the small team of Journey Properties is curating with a total of more than 1,500 from all over the world who want to take part in their loyalty program – a combination of independent hotels and rental objects. Sutton said portalwhat just started to assess yourself.)
Sutton and Kelly argue that the system is no longer uncomplicated for visitors. “Our program is designed in such a way that they are not exploited,” said Kelly.
The journey is the type of tech products for consumers that they don’t see much-a simple concept that is carried out with flair. But of course this is AI, which is 2025. The company has built tools that pursue the preferences and behavior of visitors, e.g. B. whether it prefers to be welcomed with red wine or mineral water to help real estate managers adapt the experience. And Journey also builds up a platform for influencers like Kelly, which suits you with the real estate. After all, the goal is to build AI agents that will help tourists. Sutton says that it will make platforms like Expedia on which you can find a hotel by looking for the top 10 hotels in Paris.
“Trust will be on a trust trip with us,” he told me.
Leo Schwartz
X: @Lomshwartz
E-mail: leo.schwartz@fortune.com
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Venture deals
– – AsA developer of AI agents based in São Paulo who operate salary accounting and work-up companies collected $ 18 million in funds from representative Capital cityPresent A16Zand founder.
– – Raise roboticsA developer of a robot based in San Francisco, which was designed for the fulfillment of construction tasks, collected $ 7.8 million in seed financing. Mac Undertakings led the round and was accompanied by Undivided Undertakings and existing investors Cybernetix UndertakingsPresent Zacua UndertakingsAnd Union Labs.
– – QbeastA Bellevue, in Wash. Resident data infrastructure company, collected $ 7.6 million in seed financing. Peak XV’s surge led the round and was accompanied by HWK Technology investment And fuel partner.
– – pearl EdisonA general contractor based in Detroit for projects for electrification and energy efficiency of residential buildings collected $ 3.3 million in seed financing. New system companies And Commonweal Undertakings led the round and was accompanied by Light bench And Newlab.
– – NeurogramA neurological diagnostic platform in São Paulo collected $ 3 million in seed financing. headline led the round and was accompanied by Romero Rodrigues.
Private equity
– – MachineA portfolio company of New mountain capitalagreed to take Performant Health careA payment company based in plantation, Florida for the healthcare industry, privately for about $ 670 million.
– – New mountain capital agreed to acquire a minority stake WiphfliA consulting and auditing company based in Milwaukee. Financial conditions have not been announced.
Outputs
– – MPLX acquired Nordwind Delaware HoldingsA Sauergas meeting, treating and processing services based in Houston, from Five points -infrastructure For 2.38 billion US dollars.
– – Cinven agreed to acquire a majority stake Clever communicationA cloud-based corporate customer communication in London, based in Great Britain, from Accel-KKR. Financial conditions have not been announced.
– – Ndt global acquired IntegraA premium integrity and inspection company based in Indianapolis, which specializes in the inspection services for magnetic fluss leaks in the ultra-high resolution, of pipeline inspection services Amberjack Capital city. Financial conditions have not been announced.
Fund + fund for funds
– – Right partnerA private equity company based in New York collected $ 825 million for its seventh fund, which focused on companies with medium market.
– – CRVA risk capital company based in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California, collected $ 750 million for its 20th fund, which focused on seed and series a rounds.
This is the web version of Semest Sheet, a daily newsletter about the largest offers and shops in venture capital and private equity. Register for free.
