Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025: Directo

Directo is an intelligent search engine that works in the background of our users’ existing
travel searches and a Chrome extension that helps travelers find the
best accommodation deals. Founded in 2023 by second-time entrepreneurs with
travel industry backgrounds, the company’s mission is to help guests easily
compare the price and offers available, while empowering hotels and property
owners to have more control over their business.

PhocusWire coverage

Directo emerges from stealth with $1M in funding 

Founders Pierre Becerril, Marina Gustavino and Julian Toledo Cuenca

Strategic goals for 2025

Our
2025 goals are to reach our first 500K users and €100M in gross booking value
while in parallel strengthening our direct relationship with key OTAs,
operators and software partners in the industry.

Lessons learned since founding

We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how frequently consumers are
searching for travel. Initially, we anticipated that users would engage with
our extension on a more occasional basis. However, on average, 17% of our user
base searches for travel deals with Directo each week.

Another key insight is the significant variability in conversions,
which are heavily influenced by several factors: the strength of the partner’s
direct deal, the quality of the site’s user experience and the level of
friction between the search process and checkout. Some partners experience
ecommerce conversion rates below 1%, while others achieve impressive
double-digit conversions.