Travel companies of the Netherlands
Withlocals is an experiential travel company that connects travellers to local hosts who offer private, personalised tours.[1][2][3] Describing itself as trying to achieve "mass personalisation"[4][5] rather than offering group or package tours,[6] Withlocals is cited as an example of the role and impact of the sharing economy on tourism[7] – particularly culinary tourism[8][9] – and the consumer trends for "authenticity" and "experiences".[10][11][12][13]
History
Founded in 2013 by brothers Marijn and Willem Maas in Eindhoven, the Netherlands,[14][15] the company was supported by startup accelerator Greenhouse group. it obtained $500,000 seed funding from Digital Equity group[16] and a grant from the Horizon 2020 program.[17] It began operations by specifically targeting a market for sharing home cooked dinners across seven countries in Southeast Asia.[18][19] It later received Series A funding of €3.5 million ($4.3M) in 2017, at which time it reported to offer 1,200 tour options with 900 local hosts in 24 cities – having changed focus to personalised tour guides.[20] In 2019 it secured Series B funding of a further €8 million at which time it was active in 30 cities.[21][22] Both rounds were supported by Dutch investment company INKEF Capital[23] and the latter by Keen Venture Partners.[24] A priority of the latest round of investment is to improve the Software localisation and range of tours offered in languages other than English.[25] As of mid-2019, Withlocals has more than 50 employees.[26]
Cities
- Images from various Withlocals tours
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As of mid-2019 the Withlocals platform has hosts offering tours in the following cities:[27]
Africa
Asia
Australia
Europe
North America
South America
