Dextr AI Exits Stealth With $6.7M Seed For Hotel AI Agents

Dextr AI has raised $6.7 million in seed funding to build AI agents that handle reservations, guest requests and staff coordination for hotels — its first institutional financing. Elevation Capital led the round, with participation from Foundation Capital.

The San Francisco startup, founded in July 2025 by CEO Sajid Shariff and CTO Scott Arnold, is emerging from stealth with traction most AI companies lack: its agents already handle more than 1 million interactions a month across hundreds of hotels.

How did Dextr get started?

Shariff returned to the Bay Area in 2024 and reconnected with contacts from his years in hospitality. Hotels, he was told, still faced rising labor costs, staffing gaps and pressure to grow revenue.

He offered to build an AI agent for a couple of properties. The first, called Alfred, answered guest questions and handled check-ins and check-outs. Online reviews improved at both properties within 90 days, Shariff said.

That work led him to team up with Arnold and found Dextr AI.

What does the voice agent deliver in revenue?

After the early guest management deployments, Dextr turned to incoming calls with a voice reservations agent called Daisy. Answering callers' questions often led to bookings — phone calls were "leading to revenue," Shariff found.

One large hotel Dextr works with now handles $100,000 to $300,000 a month in bookings through the voice agent, according to Shariff.

Dextr has since expanded into agents for group bookings, staff management and other tasks, with a goal of connecting them so information in one part of a hotel prompts action in another. If a guest declines housekeeping, a guest management agent could pass that information to an operations agent so staff schedules adjust accordingly.

Late check-ins offer another use case. A guest arriving at a property without an overnight front desk employee could call the hotel, have Daisy verify their reservation and receive instructions for entering the room. Shariff estimated an overnight front desk shift could cost a property $70,000 to $80,000 a year in a market such as California.

"It was very hard to hire for these shifts to begin with," he said.

What sets the agents apart?

Shariff cites three distinctions. First, connecting agents across tasks: "It's important that we do multiple use cases to see the higher ROI," he said.

Second, deployment. Dextr sends engineers to work directly with customers, identify where agents could help and connect them to existing systems. The engineers stay involved as properties put the agents to use.

"Every property, every operation is different in this space," Shariff said. Dextr integrates with property management systems including Oracle Hospitality, OPERA Cloud, StayNtouch, Cloudbeds and Hostaway.

Third, employee access. Staff can direct agents by text or voice through a companion called Doss, without learning new software. "You can call it, you can talk to it, you can text it," Shariff said.

Who are the customers?

Dextr's customers range from a 21-room property to one with 550 rooms. They include independent hotels and properties under the Hilton, Wyndham, Best Western and IHG brands, as well as reservation centers, vacation rentals and outdoor hospitality businesses such as campgrounds, RV parks, lodges and golf courses.

The startup works directly with owners and operators of those branded properties and is beginning its first direct relationship with a hotel brand Shariff declined to name.

The company charges a subscription based on the property and agents used, with usage-based fees for some agents. Shariff declined to disclose revenue, profitability or the round's valuation. After spending much of last year on pilot projects, Dextr began growing faster this spring. Annual recurring revenue has been growing about 20% to 30% month over month, he said, without disclosing hard figures.

Why did Elevation Capital invest?

Krishna Mehra, an AI partner at Elevation Capital, pointed to customers using the agents to generate bookings and upsells while reducing operating costs.

"What stood out immediately was Sajid and Scott's execution. Dextr scaled to [hundreds of] contracted properties and meaningful ARR without raising a single dollar," Mehra wrote via email. "In a space where most AI companies are still searching for product-market fit, Dextr had customers, zero churn, and a clear ROI story. That combination of founder quality and early traction is exactly what we look for at Elevation."

Dextr plans to use the funding to hire more engineers who work directly with customers, expand its software integrations and develop additional agents. Its team has grown from three people a year ago to 21.