Founded in 2013 by brothers Marijn and Willem Maas in
Eindhoven, the Netherlands,[14][15] the company was supported by
startup acceleratorGreenhouse 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
Lisbon
Kyoto
Bali
Athens
Denpasar
As of mid-2019 the Withlocals platform has hosts offering tours in the following cities:[27]
^Agapito, Dora; Alemida, Hugo de; Campos, Cláudia (2016). "Sensory perception and co-creation in rural tourism experiences". In Kastenholz, Elizabeth; Carneiro, Maria João; Eusébio, Celeste; Figueiredo, Elisabete (eds.). Meeting Challenges for Rural Tourism through Co-Creation of Sustainable Tourist Experiences.
Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 51.
ISBN978-1443898317.
OCLC957317911.
^Vallbona, Montserrat Crespi; Pérez, Marta Domínguez (2016).
"Los mercados de abastos y las ciudades turisticas" [Food markets and tourist cities]. PASOS. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Heritage (in Spanish). 14 (2 ed.): 403.
Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.