Fora reaches unicorn status with $60m Series D to scale Via

Raises $60m to scale Via AI

Fora has closed a new $60 million (about €53.5 million) Series D at a $1 billion valuation. 

The round was led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, with existing backers Thrive Capital, Insight Partners and Heartcore Capital all participating. 

The firm's recent seed saw new investors PLUS Capital, BlackPines Capital Partners and Tribeca Venture Partners join the mix. 

The company, which launched in 2021 and says its advisors have now generated more than $3 billion in bookings, brings total funding to $138.5 million.

Fora’s flagship product is Via, an embedded AI assistant that remains in beta with a selected group of advisors. 

The tool is designed to shoulder administrative tasks around selling travel - from destination research and supplier knowledge to itinerary building and proposal generation - automating part of the operational layer so advisors can spend more time on service, personalisation and client relationships. 

The company also plans to use the capital to keep hiring, expand geographically and deepen its presence in categories such as cruise and flights.

“Fora’s mission has always been to give advisors the infrastructure they need to build real businesses,” said Evan Frank, co-founder of Fora. 

“In the age of AI, the ceiling on what’s possible for this profession is only getting higher, and the things that are hardest to replicate - human expertise, relationships, taste matter even more. 

"With AI increasingly handling the operational layer, we’re already seeing advisors building bigger, more meaningful businesses, faster.”

The deal underscores investor interest in hybrid models that blend technology, distribution networks and human support. 

The startup argues AI can augment, rather than bypass, travel advisors’ productivity, pointing to growth metrics that have accelerated: it took three years to reach the first $1 billion in bookings, eight months to reach the second and just five months to reach the third. 

“Fora’s trajectory is compounding,” noted Brian O’Malley, founder and managing partner of Tactile Ventures, who led the round. 

“Fora is growing faster than any other company in AI travel because their offering combines automation when you want it with human accountability when you need it to provide a seamless traveler experience.”

Based in New York, Fora says it has more than 15,000 active advisors, 97% of whom are new to the job, and a client footprint in over 180 countries. This Series D ushers the company into the sector’s unicorn ranks.