Zerolook Raises $1.9M to Make AI-Powered Flight Search More Cost-Effective

Zerolook Raises $1.9 Million in Pre-Seed Funding

Zug, Switzerland-based travel technology startup Zerolook has raised 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.9 million) in pre-seed funding to help airlines and travel companies manage the growing cost of AI-driven flight searches.

The round was led by Playfair, with participation from Vento Ventures, TrueSight Ventures, Alpha Venture, and angel investors from the technology, travel, and financial sectors.

The company plans to use the funding to launch its first API and build a machine learning team in Zurich.

AI Agents Are Driving Flight Search Volumes

AI-powered travel agents can generate thousands of flight searches while comparing destinations, dates, routes, and fare combinations.

For airlines and travel agencies, these searches create computing and data costs even when the user does not ultimately book a ticket.

According to OAG, searches per ticket sold have increased from around 100–200 in the early 2000s to approximately 10,000–20,000 today.

The number could potentially reach up to 2 million searches per ticket by 2030 as AI agents increase automated search activity.

Machine Learning for Flight Search

Zerolook is developing a machine-learning-based approach to flight search that uses historical fare, schedule, and availability data to predict flight options and prices.

Instead of calculating every possible query in real time, the platform aims to provide predictions with confidence scores.

The approach is designed to allow travel companies to handle larger search volumes while reducing the cost associated with processing every individual request.

Founding Team

Zerolook operates through Navifare AG and was founded by Simone Lini and George Hadjiyiannis.

Simone Lini previously founded Waynaut, which was acquired by Lastminute.com. He later worked on commercial and product operations for its metasearch business and led Google Flights partnerships in EMEA.

George Hadjiyiannis holds a PhD in computer science from MIT and has held product and engineering roles at Kayak, Google, Nvidia, and eBay.

Building Infrastructure for Agentic Travel

Zerolook is entering a market that includes established flight data and travel infrastructure providers such as Amadeus, Duffel, and Skyscanner's partner API.

While these platforms provide live flight results, Zerolook is taking a different approach by using machine learning predictions to handle search demand at potentially lower costs.

The company plans to test this approach through pilot programs with online travel partners that have already signed letters of intent.

Funding to Launch First API

The new funding will support the launch of Zerolook's first API and the creation of its machine learning team in Zurich.

The company will initially work with travel partners through pilot programs to determine whether its predictive approach can deliver sufficient accuracy for airlines and online travel agencies.

The startup's broader goal is to build flight-search infrastructure capable of handling the increasing volume of searches generated by AI agents.