During his junior year studying abroad, Max Morganroth traveled to 30 countries, mainly flying in business and first class. His jets are almost entirely funded by airlines he collects through strategic credit card applications and mileage redemption.

Morganroth told TechCrunch that almost everyone he knew was "begging" him to teach them how to get free flights through the airline Miles program, a term he called "travel hacker." But most people in most circles, including Wharton students, are not eligible for the best airline rewards credit card, or lack time to maximize the mile conversion of their best flights.

By marketing credit cards and sharing fees with banks, frequently used flyer programs have become a major revenue for airlines. But according to Morganroth, about 70 million Americans do not have enough credit history to access these reward programs.

During the trip, Morganroth found that in Hong Kong, people would not need to open a credit card to earn miles on Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. "The mileage there is considered the second currency," he said. "You go to 7-Eleven to buy a water bottle; you can earn Asian mileage. You can open a bank account and earn cash interest, plus savings mileage. You can even sell a property with cash, part of it."

Morganroth saw an opportunity for a similar program to Asian Riya, where consumers can earn miles on various airlines when they shop in certain stores. His claim to airlines is that they can take advantage of a larger consumer population, especially Gen Z, a generation eager to travel but still lacks established credibility.

After graduation, Morganroth, 22, worked with Harvard dropout Arhan Chhabra, while the duo began to build Rove, the startup claims to be the first loyalty program to the Universal Mile.

Of course, this is not the first one, nor is it the first one. For example, the American Express'Rewards program allows users to redeem points with multiple airlines, while sites like Expedia provide points that can be used for various airline flights. But long and short line plans are still rare.

Rove entered the Y group's winter batch of 2024 and began flying around the world, where they entered into partnerships with 11 airlines' mile plans, including France - KLM, Aerome Toxico, Finnair and Qatar Airways.

The partnerships previously only used primarily for credit card issuers at major banks, which helped investors raise $2 million from investors such as YC, General Catalyst and Soma Capital.

Morgan Rose said Rove’s loyalty program allows airlines to expand their lucrative operations to millions of consumers.

But instead of allowing airlines to share fees with credit cards, Rove is a way to make money with Google Chrome's Rove Shopping Extension and over 7,000 merchants. That is a business model similar to honey and rakuten.

Morganroth explained that points earned from shopping can be converted into airline miles, which is more valuable than its cash.

In addition to the membership marketing plan, Rove also provides users with miles to book hotels.

In fact, Morganroth said the $1,000 hotel stay is worth the round trip ticket from the US to Europe, and if the hotel booking is non-refundable, it can be used for flights on the same trip. Hotel reservations are very valuable as some hotels have up to 40% sales compared to commissions. Rove did not hand over all shares of these revenue to users in the form of miles.

Users can combine Rove Miles earned on hotel reservations with miles (or even credit card miles) from shopping extensions if they have a card that earns airline points.

The startup’s elaborate plan seems complicated, but Morganlows says users can simply make money as long as they book hotels on their platform or in stores using the Rove Shopping expander.

When users are ready to book flights with mileage, Rove's Travel Portal can help them find the best reward flights. Although Rove works with only 11 airlines, users of the startup can book reward trips on about 140 airlines, as miles of one airline can usually be transferred to its affiliates in another area.

Rove is available for anyone, but Morganroth believes its products are most attractive to young people.

"Gen Z wants to travel more than any other group of people, but they can access the tool at least, making it cheaper," he said. "They no longer have to wait until they are 28, have a five-year credit history and a $700 fee to get one of the cards; they can only download the Chrome extension, book any of their existing trips through us, and they will be in the game right away."