Layla uses short-form videos to help tourists plan their trips. It just raised $3 million with this 8-slide pitch deck.

• Layla has raised $3 million from Booking.com and Skyscanner cofounders.
• The Berlin-based startup uses artificial intelligence and short-form videos to help people find and plan vacations.
• Check out the 8-slide pitch deck used to close the round also backed by Paris Hilton.

A $3 million seed round was raised by a startup that uses short-form video and AI to help users find and book vacations.

Berlin-based Jeremy Jauncey, the founder of travel destination brand Beautiful Destinations, and Saad Saeed, the cofounder of grocery delivery juggernaut Flink, founded Layla.

The startup’s goal is to build a platform where users can find their next vacation destination and plan their itinerary. Users can message Layla’s Instagram handle and use its free app to discover new travel destinations and book activities and accommodations.

Millennials and Gen Zs frequently use Instagram and TikTok to research and plan their vacations. Layla hopes to use social media as a platform for travel discovery by using short-form video.

The startup claims that as part of its product offerings, it uses large language models to recommend travel destinations to users.

“You can ask Layla to find Maldives-like beaches in a destination that is more affordable and is not inundated with tourists from a few simple Instagram DM exchanges,” Saaed went on to say. “Our product gives users exactly what they want, in a medium they like to consume and on platforms where they spend most of their time.”

Layla currently makes money by integrating with booking providers such as Skyscanner and Booking.com.

The seed round was led by venture capital firm firsminute Capital, which is chaired by Brent Hoberman, the founder of travel platform lastminute.com. Booking.com founder Andy Phillips, Skyscanner cofounder Barry Smith, reality TV mogul Paris Hilton, and US-based venture capital firm M13 all contributed.

The new funding will be used to expand the Layla product offering beyond the existing Instagram chatbot and app.