# Evan Chen

> Evan Chen is the founder and CEO of Akia, a San Francisco-based AI-powered guest experience platform built for hotels and vacation rentals. A former Solutions Engineering Manager at Meta, Chen pivoted from big tech to rethink how the hospitality industry communicates - replacing phone calls and paper forms with text-based AI that learns individual guest preferences. Under his leadership, Akia has raised $12.1M, counts Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and The Ritz-Carlton among its clients, and is engineering what Chen calls 'the future of agentic hospitality.'

- **Role:** CEO & Founder at Akia
- **Organizations:** Akia, Meta (Facebook), Kite, Midas Academy, Central Desktop
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Unknown, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Raised $12.1M total funding across 3 rounds for Akia, Built AI guest platform adopted by Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, Sheraton, Best Western, NoMad, and The Ritz-Carlton, Achieved 3x year-over-year growth at Akia

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Enrolled at University of California, Davis
- **2015** — Early career - Senior Software Engineer at Central Desktop (collaboration software)
- **2014** — Joined Meta (Facebook) as Solutions Engineering Manager
- **2014** — Founded Midas Academy, mentoring young entrepreneurs
- **2016** — Founded Kite, a student progress tracking and analytics app for teachers
- **2018** — Left Meta after four years as Solutions Engineering Manager
- **2018** — Founded Akia with team of ex-Facebook engineers
- **2019** — Launched Akia platform commercially
- **2020** — Secured seed funding from GSR Ventures; steered company through COVID-19 hospitality crisis
- **2023** — Closed $6M Series A led by Altos Ventures; achieved 3x year-over-year growth
- **2024** — Raised additional $5M (Series A-II) from GSR Ventures; Akia valued at $44.9M

## Achievements

- Raised $12.1M total funding across 3 rounds for Akia
- Built AI guest platform adopted by Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, Sheraton, Best Western, NoMad, and The Ritz-Carlton
- Achieved 3x year-over-year growth at Akia
- 72% guest text engagement rate and 84% check-in completion rate at adopting properties
- One hotel client reported 142% increase in positive online reviews after Akia deployment
- Scaled Akia to 55+ employees and a $44.9M valuation
- Ranked 2nd among 252 active competitors in hospitality tech (Tracxn)
- Steered Akia through the COVID-19 travel crisis, pivoting to contactless hospitality solutions
- Helped a 500-room property free approximately 200 hours per month through automation

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Akia announced a new Marketing Suite for hotels and vacation rentals
- **2024-09** — Akia raised $5M in Series A-II funding from GSR Ventures, reaching a $44.9M valuation
- **2023-01** — Akia closed $6M Series A led by Altos Ventures, with participation from GSR Ventures

## Links

- Website: https://akia.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/evanlc

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/evan-chen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-18