India An AI-powered online travel firm with more than 22 million properties is run by a Bihar man who traveled to more than 100 countries and took more than 700 flights to study travel
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India An AI-powered online travel firm with more than 22 million properties is run by a Bihar man. CREDIT: Ritesh Raj, Bihar-born entrepreneur
India An AI-powered online travel firm with more than 22 million properties is run by a Bihar man CuddlyNest, an AI-powered and machine learning-driven worldwide vacation booking platform with millions of stays, flights, and attractions, was founded in the United States in 2020. It’s said that travel transforms you in ways you never would have thought possible.
It broadens your perspectives, forces you to repeatedly discover who you are, and above all makes you realize that you are greater than the life you were leading. Travel turned into a pivotal period in the life of Ritesh Raj, co-founder and CEO of CuddlyNest.
You never know what seeds are being sown and why when you travel. Unknowingly, I was getting ready for CuddlyNest during my research sabbatical, which took me to over 100 nations. I was motivated to alter how consumers engage with internet booking platforms after encountering common problems faced by travelers on a regular basis. My team and I have accomplished this over five years later,” Ritesh Raj says in an exclusive interview with Indifact News.
THE HISTORY
Ritesh, who was up in a small town in Bihar, India, had a different way of thinking than the people around him. Global entrepreneurship wasn’t particularly popular at the time. People didn’t relocate to “create” anything new. There was little opportunity for deviation because everything was so close-knit.
After starting his career at Wipro in 2007, he worked in marketing, customer service, and the travel business for a number of different organizations. However, how did the passion for travel come to be? How did it start to grow early in his life?
While working in New Delhi, Ritesh simultaneously studied the language of the globe. He wanted to take in as much diversity as possible. He unwittingly created one of India’s first authentic co-living spaces when he opened his home to visitors from all around the world.
Ritesh’s home was inhabited by seventy people over the years, each of them had a unique story, accent, and worldview that complemented his own. By 2013, merely communicating with individuals around the globe was insufficient. Ritesh desired to encounter the diversity of ideas, culture, and daily existence in its unadulterated, living form.
Thus, he abandoned his lucrative career in favor of what most would consider “reckless.” He made the decision to travel to every nation on earth after packing his baggage. Ritesh chuckles, “For me, it was genuinely just essential research and an excuse to reconnect with all the friends I had made during my co-living experiment.”
He traveled to more than 100 countries, took more than 700 flights, and stayed in more than 400 international cities between November 2013 and September 2019. This also applied to practically every Indian city. This was not a quick trip. He spent at least a week at each location so he could fully take in the surroundings.
“I would reconnect with old roommates, offer advice on projects related to my industry, and most importantly, fully enjoy the trip.” Ritesh Raj tells Indifact News, “I’ve stayed everywhere over the years: hostels, homestays, five-star hotels, seven-star hotels, BNBs, cottages, you name it.”
Ritesh personally seen the issues facing the travel IT industry and, consequently, the traveler while using every platform available to book his stays.
THE SEED OF CUDDLYNEST
Ritesh ended up in San Francisco in December 2019. In a cafe called Sightglass Coffee, he was enjoying hot coffee. He started talking to Haitham Saead, who was a total stranger at the time but has decades of experience in consulting, finance, and information technology. The pair found that they were both frustrated with traditional vacation booking platforms and obsessed with the best coffee.
Haitham was sharing his personal observations about how cumbersome and impersonal travel platforms can be. He didn’t like that the user interfaces weren’t always seamless and fluid as they ought to be. As I listened to him, I thought, “If we both feel this way, then all travelers must,” Ritesh grinned. After deciding to take action, Ritesh and Haitham founded CuddlyNest in January 2020.
JOURNEY AND DIFFICULTIES
CuddlyNest was founded by Ritesh and Haitham with the straightforward goal of making travel reservations easy for all parties involved (hosts, suppliers, and travelers). However, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world in March 2020, shortly after the online booking platform was introduced, and a worldwide shutdown ensued. Travel stopped. Investors became terrified. Teams were dispersed.
Later, political unrest in Ukraine, one of our major hubs, caused disruptions. It was, in all honesty, the worst time to launch a travel agency, Ritesh Raj tells Indifact News. Despite a difficult start, CuddlyNest’s creators persisted. Haitham Saead continues, “We knew the world would travel again.”
CuddlyNest quietly grew over the next two years by developing AI models, enhancing processes, and connecting suppliers to increase inventory. Early on, the founders and the small, concentrated staff of less than ten members decided to develop everything internally. No reliance on subscriptions or outsourcing.
According to businessman Ritesh, “we were rebuilding travel booking from the ground up using better data, smarter technology, and fairer economics.” Travel around the world had regained its rhythm by 2023. The tourism sector flourished, and CuddlyNest was ready to meet the increased demand.
The crew had become more resilient than ever by overcoming uncertainty. CuddlyNest was ahead of the curve when artificial intelligence (ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity) were widely used. “We didn’t really rush to get used to AI. Because strong artificial intelligence was one of our core principles from the beginning, according to startup founder Haitham Saead.
CUDDLYNEST: ACTUALLY FUNCTIONAL AND WARMING
Today, CuddlyNest offers worldwide lodging, flight booking, and attraction inventory (to be added shortly) in a single, unified engine by applying the AI-driven method to the OTA (online travel agency) paradigm.
The OTA platform provides straightforward, long-term fixes for some of the most obvious issues with online travel:
The majority of sites charge hosts commissions of 12–20%, which drives up travel costs and lowers property owners’ profits.
According to startup creator Ritesh Raj, “CuddlyNest charges just a flat 5% fee, which makes it easier for property owners to sustain their business without putting an additional burden on the end consumer.”
Travelers frequently spend hours adjusting filters and sifting through thousands of unrelated results. Decision paralysis and filter fatigue result from this.
In order to solve this, CuddlyNest employs ML-powered smart filtering to quickly present the most pertinent choices for personal preferences. Additionally, accuracy and relevancy are more important to us than compensated placement. Other platforms offer “sponsored” or “promoted” listings that waste time and skew results, according to Haitham Saead.
Travelers are still limited to using standard card payments on many booking platforms. CuddlyNest gives travelers greater freedom, worldwide accessibility, and quicker, borderless transactions by providing a variety of safe payment choices, such as credit cards and cryptocurrency.
In addition to AI-driven personalization that adjusts search results based on traveler intent, CuddlyNest removes the need to switch between different websites and applications. With fair pricing, no hidden markups, and no erratic changes, it provides travelers with a unified booking experience where they can book lodging, flights, and attractions in one location. According to Haitham, “our USP is that we are built around users, not algorithms.”
GROWTH OF CUDDLYNEST
More than 22 million properties in more than 32 categories, including vacation rentals, hotels, hostels, serviced apartments, villas, cabins, and more, are currently listed on CuddlyNest. In addition to lodging, the AI-powered OTA lets users book more than 600 airlines that operate more than 50,000 itineraries to locations worldwide.
With a global travel community active in more than 100 nations in North America, Europe, and Asia, it has a global reach of more than 188 countries and 80,000 cities. CuddlyNest has served millions of clients worldwide since 2023, with a gross transaction value of USD 27.9 million.
An OTA that began with just ten employees is now run by a team of fifty highly qualified tech specialists that operate remotely throughout Europe, Asia, the US, and the Middle East. In terms of funding, CuddlyNest has the support of a committed group of angel investors who recognize the need for a more intelligent and fair travel platform. According to firm founder Haitham Saead, “we are also on track to finish our first major fundraising round in Q1 2026.”
“This is only the start. Our goal is to transform the current worldwide vacation booking experience and establish CuddlyNest as a pioneer. I would advise all entrepreneurs to simply jump in. I’m sure I’m happy I did. Entrepreneur Ritesh Raj concludes, “Of leaving my hometown, of traveling to more than 100 countries, of starting something born out of a coffee shop conversation, and of continuing to stay at it even when everything seemed especially designed against it.”
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