TAIPEI, Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Aiello, a leading startup specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP), announced today the successful completion of a US$5 million funding round. The round was led by prominent Japanese venture capital firms Cool Japan Fund and CDIB Cross Border Innovation Fund II LP, along with E.Sun Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and B Current Mstar Impact Investment. Additional support came from existing institutional backers, JAFCO Asia and Wistron Corporation, further reinforcing confidence in Aiello's strategic direction.
As part of this round, Aiello welcomed Kenichi Sawaya from CDIB Cross Border Innovation Fund II LP, a Co-GP fund between CDIB and Cool Japan Fund, to join the board of directors. Sawaya brings a wealth of global experience and strategic insight, which will be instrumental in accelerating Aiello's expansion into Japan. "We are excited to participate in Aiello's latest funding round. Their AI expertise and innovative, all-in-one hospitality management system will address operational inefficiencies and fragmentation in the hospitality sector, driving sustainable growth amid ongoing labor shortages. We look forward to advancing the digital transformation and elevating hotel services in Japan through this partnership," Sawaya said.
Aiello CEO and co-founder Vic Shen commented, "This funding round is primarily about bringing on board shareholders who offer invaluable experience for our growth. The capital raised will support our international expansion, particularly in Japan and Southeast Asia. Beyond expanding our reach, we aim to collaborate with local software and service providers to adapt and enhance the Aiello Hospitality Platform, creating a fully localized, all-in-one SaaS solution that can replace outdated systems."
In 2023, Aiello launched Aiello-One, an all-in-one SaaS management platform designed specifically for the hospitality industry. The platform offers three core modules: Interface, Operations, and Insight. These modules simplify the adoption of digital solutions, while the platform's flexible plugin system enables continuous upgrades. This approach allows hotels to reduce maintenance costs and easily tailor the system to meet their unique operational needs.
Aiello's international partnerships have surged, with 65% of its new contracts in 2023 coming from global hotel chains such as Seibu Prince Hotels & Resorts, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, and Taiwan's Cosmos Hotels & Resorts and Caesar Park Hotels & Resorts. Over the past three years, Aiello has been implemented in more than 180 hotels, covering over 20,000 rooms. The platform has processed over 4.71 million guest requests and cross-departmental tasks, while its voice and touch functionalities have facilitated over 55.1 million guest interactions. To date, Aiello has supported more than 2.8 million room nights, providing personalized service and real-time responses to meet the diverse needs of modern travelers.
Looking ahead to 2025-2027, Aiello is well-positioned to address critical industry challenges, including labor shortages, the growing number of new hotels, and the rising demand for brand renovations. The shift from traditional on-premise servers to AI-powered in-room devices is expected to elevate the industry to new heights of technological innovation.
Starting in Q3 2024, Aiello has partnered with service and content providers to offer diversified travel itineraries and shopping services directly in guest rooms, aiming to further enhance guest experiences and drive hotel revenue growth.
About Aiello
Aiello is a leading provider of Voice AI in the hospitality industry. Its flagship product, Aiello Voice Assistant, is a multi-award-winning talk & touch voice AI technology solution aimed at streamlining hotel operations, enhancing the guest experience, and generating insights about customer behavior. The state-of-the-art Aiello Voice Assistant is designed to elevate the guest experience with its unique AI-powered features and capabilities. Since 2019, Aiello Voice Assistant has been deployed in over 180 hotels, encompassing 20,000 rooms, and has answered over 14 million inquiries from 2.5 million end users in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and English.
Learn more at Aiello's official website: https://aiello.ai/
For further information, please contact:
Patty Chen
Marketing Director, Aiello
Email: patty.chen@aiello.ai
Patricia Wang
PR/Event Marketing Manager, Aiello
Email: patricia.wang@aiello.ai
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Aiello Secures New Funding to Fuel Expansion Across Japan and Southeast Asia
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SINGAPORE, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa, a world leader in digital payments today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trip.com Group, marking a strategic collaboration to power richer travel experiences for Asia Pacific consumers. The MoU will harness Visa's global payments network and Trip.com Group's extensive ecosystem, enabling travellers to discover personalised recommendations, access offers for dream destinations and transact seamlessly on their journeys.
Trip.com Group will also become a global Anchor Partner for Visa Destinations, a global experience-led program that connects cardholders to curated travel experiences shaped by culture and local insights, allowing travellers to plan journeys around what matters most.
As Anchor Partner, Trip.com Group will integrate Visa Destinations into its ecosystem to create enhanced travel value propositions and provide personalised offers and benefits to a wide spectrum of consumer segments. Visa and Trip.com Group will also collaborate on joint marketing and promotional initiatives in selected markets, enabling more people to discover dream destinations and experiences around the world.
In addition, Visa and Trip.com Group will explore deeper collaborations catered to rapidly growing segments across Asia Pacific, including new ways for Trip.com Group users to access Visa's affluent offerings such as its global portfolio of sports, music, and lifestyle partnerships, while giving Visa Infinite cardholders access to exclusive Trip.com Group offers. Visa and Trip.com Group will also work closely to accelerate travel between Mainland China and the rest of the region.
The collaboration between Visa and Trip.com Group coincides with Asia Pacific's evolving travel landscape, defined by resilient travel appetites and an increasingly digital-first population. According to Visa's Global Travel Intentions (GTI) 2026 study:
- Almost three in four (72%) survey respondents plan to travel within Asia in the coming months, with one in four intending to travel to Japan
- Digital payments are second nature to Asia Pacific travellers, with 73% of respondents bringing along credit cards or mobile wallets for their trips.
- 92% of respondents went online to plan and research travel recommendations for recent trips, with 49% using AI tools to find travel destinations or ideas
Danielle Jin, Chief Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific at Visa, said: "Travel is a major engine shaping Asia Pacific's cultures and economies. At Visa, we believe everyone can be the traveller they want to be. Our collaboration with Trip.com Group is built for what travellers want today, combining trusted global payments with unmatched travel discovery through our platforms. We look forward to a successful collaboration with Trip.com Group, working closely to deliver more curated, rewarding, and seamless travel experiences that connect people to what they are most passionate about."
Bo Sun, Chief Marketing Officer at Trip.com Group, said: "At Trip.com Group, our mission is to inspire discovery and deliver seamless journeys — constantly innovating to create the perfect trip every time. Through this strategic collaboration with Visa, we are advancing this mission in the Asia Pacific and beyond by integrating trusted payments capabilities, curated travel experiences, and expanded premium offerings across our one-stop travel ecosystem. Together, we are creating more than just convenience for the world's travellers — we are delivering a high-value travel proposition that transforms every spark of inspiration into an unforgettable experience."
About Visa
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.
About Trip.com Group
Trip.com Group is a global travel service provider comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group helps travellers around the world make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services and enables partners to connect their offerings with users through the aggregation of travel-related content and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of apps, websites and 24/7 customer service centres. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003 and HKEX in 2021, Trip.com Group is on the mission "to pursue the perfect trip for a better world". Find out more about Trip.com Group here: group.trip.com.
Follow us on: X , Facebook , LinkedIn , and YouTube.
SINGAPORE, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa, a world leader in digital payments today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trip.com Group, marking a strategic collaboration to power richer travel experiences for Asia Pacific consumers. The MoU will harness Visa's global payments network and Trip.com Group's extensive ecosystem, enabling travellers to discover personalised recommendations, access offers for dream destinations and transact seamlessly on their journeys.
Trip.com Group will also become a global Anchor Partner for Visa Destinations, a global experience-led program that connects cardholders to curated travel experiences shaped by culture and local insights, allowing travellers to plan journeys around what matters most.
As Anchor Partner, Trip.com Group will integrate Visa Destinations into its ecosystem to create enhanced travel value propositions and provide personalised offers and benefits to a wide spectrum of consumer segments. Visa and Trip.com Group will also collaborate on joint marketing and promotional initiatives in selected markets, enabling more people to discover dream destinations and experiences around the world.
In addition, Visa and Trip.com Group will explore deeper collaborations catered to rapidly growing segments across Asia Pacific, including new ways for Trip.com Group users to access Visa's affluent offerings such as its global portfolio of sports, music, and lifestyle partnerships, while giving Visa Infinite cardholders access to exclusive Trip.com Group offers. Visa and Trip.com Group will also work closely to accelerate travel between Mainland China and the rest of the region.
The collaboration between Visa and Trip.com Group coincides with Asia Pacific's evolving travel landscape, defined by resilient travel appetites and an increasingly digital-first population. According to Visa's Global Travel Intentions (GTI) 2026 study:
- Almost three in four (72%) survey respondents plan to travel within Asia in the coming months, with one in four intending to travel to Japan
- Digital payments are second nature to Asia Pacific travellers, with 73% of respondents bringing along credit cards or mobile wallets for their trips.
- 92% of respondents went online to plan and research travel recommendations for recent trips, with 49% using AI tools to find travel destinations or ideas
Danielle Jin, Chief Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific at Visa, said: "Travel is a major engine shaping Asia Pacific's cultures and economies. At Visa, we believe everyone can be the traveller they want to be. Our collaboration with Trip.com Group is built for what travellers want today, combining trusted global payments with unmatched travel discovery through our platforms. We look forward to a successful collaboration with Trip.com Group, working closely to deliver more curated, rewarding, and seamless travel experiences that connect people to what they are most passionate about."
Bo Sun, Chief Marketing Officer at Trip.com Group, said: "At Trip.com Group, our mission is to inspire discovery and deliver seamless journeys — constantly innovating to create the perfect trip every time. Through this strategic collaboration with Visa, we are advancing this mission in the Asia Pacific and beyond by integrating trusted payments capabilities, curated travel experiences, and expanded premium offerings across our one-stop travel ecosystem. Together, we are creating more than just convenience for the world's travellers — we are delivering a high-value travel proposition that transforms every spark of inspiration into an unforgettable experience."
About Visa
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.
About Trip.com Group
Trip.com Group is a global travel service provider comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group helps travellers around the world make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services and enables partners to connect their offerings with users through the aggregation of travel-related content and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of apps, websites and 24/7 customer service centres. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003 and HKEX in 2021, Trip.com Group is on the mission "to pursue the perfect trip for a better world". Find out more about Trip.com Group here: group.trip.com.
Follow us on: X , Facebook , LinkedIn , and YouTube.
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Visa and Trip.com Group Ink Strategic Collaboration, Enabling Consumers to Chase Their Passions Through Travel
