Directo

www.getdirecto.com ↗ ·Madrid ·Pre-seed

Directo is a Madrid-based travel technology startup that operates a free browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Safari beta) which compares hotel and short-term rental prices across OTAs like Booking, Airbnb, Expedia and Vrbo against direct booking sites, surfacing commission-free 'Directo Deals' negotiated with properties. Founded in 2023 by serial travel-tech entrepreneurs — including Pierre Becerril, who previously co-founded and sold vacation-rental data company Transparent Intelligence to Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) — it emerged from stealth in June 2024 with a $1M pre-seed round and a US launch, having reached 100,000 users; the site now claims 300,000+ travelers and #1 ranking in the Chrome Web Store travel category. The team is small (~8 people).

Founded

2023

Founders

Total funds raised

$1M

SectorsTravel & Hospitality, Traveltech, Consumer, Hotel Tech, Marketplace & E-commerce Start-up MapTravel & Hospitality › Consumer travel & accommodation booking

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Founders

Julian Toledo Cuenca

Co-founder & CTO

Marina Guastavino

Co-founder & Co-CEO

Pierre Becerril

Co-founder & Co-CEO

Sofía Cánepa

Co-founder, Growth & Product Development

Global models 5

KAYAK

United States · www.kayak.com ↗

Free travel price comparison across OTAs and direct supplier sites; it earns referral and ad fees when users click through to book, the same model Directo runs through a browser extension.

$229MComparable

Skyscanner

United Kingdom · www.skyscanner.net ↗

Free metasearch that compares hotel and travel prices from OTAs against direct providers and earns a fee on each redirect or booking, like Directo's deal-surfacing model.

$197MComparable

Honey

United States · www.joinhoney.com ↗

Free browser extension that steps in at checkout to show a better price or deal and is paid commissions by merchants, the same extension-led model Directo uses for hotels.

$41MComparable

Karma

Israel · www.karmanow.com ↗

Free shopping browser extension that tracks prices and surfaces cheaper offers while users browse, monetised through retailer commissions, as Directo does with properties.

$30MComparable

Wikibuy

United States · capitaloneshopping.com ↗

Free browser extension that compares the price on the page against other sellers and routes users to the cheaper option for an affiliate fee, which is Directo's approach applied to all of retail.

$11MComparable

In the same niche 11 others

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Notes: Most funded first

Investors 3

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Kima Ventures

www.kimaventures.com

Pre-seed 2024 France

Calafia (Global Female Tech Leaders angel group)

Pre-seed 2024 Spain

Derive Ventures

www.derive-ventures.com ↗

Pre-seed 2024 United States

Funding rounds 1

Date	Round	Amount	Lead
2024-06-27	Pre-seed	$1M	Lead not disclosed +3 more

News 6

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Published	Article
2025-11-03	Where are they now? Revisiting the Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025 ↗ PhocusWire 2025-11-03
2025-04-08	Directo Reaches 250,000 user milestone ↗ The Hotel Magazine 2025-04-08
2025-02-19	Get More Direct Bookings With Directo ↗ Lodgify 2025-02-19
2025-01-13	Directo es la startup española que ofrece hoteles baratos y apartamentos ↗ iProUP 2025-01-13
2024-11-19	Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025: Directo ↗ PhocusWire 2024-11-19
2024-06-27	Directo turns a TikTok travel hack into a deal-finding Chrome extension ↗ TechCrunch 2024-06-27