12/21/2018
MAIRDUMONT VENTURES invests in Mapify
BERLIN — Mapify, the trending Social Travel Network, announces two new investors as well as a highly exclusive selection by Apple to be amongst the store featured applications globally. The startup which launched in November 2017 backed by MIT’s Sandbox Innovation Fund, has raised $1.5M to this day and aims at becoming the most relevant social travel platform in 2019.
“We are honored by the new investors joining Mapify and by Apple’s selection of our iOS app to be preinstalled on iPhones in Apple Stores around the globe”, Mapify’s CEO Patrick Haede said. The 24-years old serial founder dropped out of MIT in the beginning of this year to lead Mapify full-time and pitched the company’s vision just recently at TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin.
Among the new investors is Mike Mahan, CEO of the Golden Globe’s and American Music Awards production company Dick Clark Productions. LA-based Mike Mahan joins the existing US investors LayJax Ventures, Navid Hadzaad and Niv Dror. In addition, Mapify is onboarding MAIRDUMONT VENTURES, the MairDumont venture arm focusing on travel startups, to their investors portfolio which has become astonishingly international in just a year since the company’s launch.
“Mapify is an ideal match to MairDumont’s vision of enabling exceptional travel experiences. We are excited on the joint journey with the impressive team of Mapify”, says Daniel Gundel, Investment Director of MAIRDUMONT.
The investment round was advised by a team of lawyers around Philipp Glock from Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft, who had already supported Mapify during the founding phase.
In addition to the new funding, the company is also announcing its selection to be amongst the very few pre-installed applications on iPhones in Apple Stores around the globe. The design-focused Mapify app has been highly successful on the Apple App Store in 2018 and it is yet another achievement
for the young company to be recognized in one of the world’s largest markets.
“We are extremely thankful and excited about Apple’s support. This is an honor for our design and engineering team and showcases a global recognition we are very proud of”, said David Pflugpeil, the 20-year old Mapify co-founder who leads the company’s iOS engineering.
About Mapify
Founded in December 2016 and based in Berlin, Mapify is a social travel platform for people to visualize, find and plan travel experiences. By developing a website and app which launched in November 2017, the company has attracted users worldwide to share trips and spots in more than 190 countries and has continuously been trending on several country App Stores worldwide. The company has raised $1.5M from MIT’s Sandbox Innovation Fund, European and US VC funds and renowned angel investors.
Key Features of Mapify’s Apps and Website
- Visualization of past or current travel experiences by uploading single spots or entire trips with photos, descriptions, and attachments
• Connecting with travelers worldwide by following them, commenting on the places they share or creating collections with them to start planning a new travel experience
• Becoming inspired by Mapify’s unique “Explore Feed” and receiving personal recommendations based on travel interests the platform recognizes
• Searching for countries, regions, and cities on Mapify to discover spots and add them to a private bucket list or collections