The artificial intelligence (AI) based travel planning app “Yoda Trip,” operated by “Storicity,” which has a travel community of 4 million members, will discontinue its service on the 20th. This comes about four years after its launch in May 2021.
On the 16th, it was announced that Yoda Trip will terminate its app service and related web services starting April 20.
“Yoda Trip” is a service that suggests customized itineraries based on input about travel destinations, duration, and preferred styles, which reduces the planning burden on users and once gained attention by being selected as the “App of the Day” on the Apple App Store.
However, Yoda Trip officially announced the discontinuation of the app and related web services. The reason cited was “business field restructuring,” but specific future directions have not been disclosed.
Lee Ji-young, a researcher at the Startup Alliance, noted, “While the Yoda Trip service operated by Storicity is ending, the increase in employees suggests that they may be pivoting based on the existing travel community ‘Travel to Madness.’”
The termination of Yoda Trip’s service is not unrelated to the downturn in the startup industry. The researcher stated, “Since the first quarter of 2022, domestic platform startups have found it difficult to secure investments,” adding, “In cases where performance indicators are not significant, startups struggle to attract additional investment.”
Currently, Yoda Trip is part of the digital content startup “Storicity,” which was established in February 2020. Storicity operates the “Travel to Madness” platform and the “Yoda Trip” app.
“Travel to Madness” is a startup that creates various new media digital content focusing on travel, boasting 4 million subscribers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Meanwhile, Storicity received seed funding from 500 Global in December 2020 and pre-Series A investment from Firstgate in December 2021. In April 2022, it also received support from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startups).