In an unique replace to EU-Startups, Eindhoven-based Maps Untold, a TravelTech startup, has raised €350k in funding to formally launch its AI-powered personalised metropolis information platform in two months time.
The spherical noticed participation from Rabobank and the Leisure Ontwikkel Fonds, and the funds will probably be used to finish the corporate’s minimal marketable product, develop its person base, and validate its scalable enterprise mannequin.
“We’re utilizing this funding primarily to finalise our minimal marketable product, scale in customers and validate our enterprise mannequin additionally on scalability,” Founder Dennis van Ravenstein instructed EU-Startups. “Moreover, we’re enhancing our information infrastructure and algorithms to make sure complete protection throughout Europe and past.”
Based in 2021 by Dennis van Ravenstein and Gabriella Gomes Branco, Maps Untold is taking over conventional gamers like Tripadvisor by delivering hyper-personalised journey suggestions, eradicating the muddle of generic ‘prime 10’ lists and sometimes untrustworthy on-line opinions.
The startup leverages AI to supply travellers with distinctive solutions primarily based on their tastes, pursuits and former experiences. For instance, customers reply a number of easy questions—similar to the place they prefer to have espresso or favorite previous journey spots—and the platform delivers a curated record of hidden gems, offbeat cafés, and areas hardly ever present in mainstream journey guides.
The corporate’s suggestion engine attracts on hundreds of thousands of knowledge factors and integrates seamlessly with exterior digital environments together with lodge apps, tourism platforms, and reservation software program. Its expertise is obtainable freed from cost to companions, who profit from added worth and co-generated income by bookings and ticket gross sales.
Maps Untold’s mannequin additionally reportedly helps native economies by directing guests towards impartial companies and lesser-known venues, aiming to encourage extra sustainable journey habits.
The most recent funding injection will probably be used to shine the platform forward of its upcoming official launch in roughly two months. A part of the funding can be earmarked for infrastructure and algorithm enhancements, which can make sure the system can present correct and personalised suggestions throughout Europe and finally past.
The corporate has set bold objectives: by the top of the 12 months, it goals to exceed 250,000 month-to-month lively customers by integration companions and generate a minimum of €10k in month-to-month recurring income—key milestones to show its monetisation and development technique.
In an more and more crowded digital journey area, Maps Untold is betting that customised experiences and an anti-algorithm method to discovery will attraction to trendy travellers.
As conventional guidebooks and review-driven websites battle to remain related, this younger Dutch enterprise is positioning itself as a compelling various within the evolving journey ecosystem.
