On the 11th of February 2022, at the Connecting Ideas With Money session at Lounge47, founder Goutham Ravi pitched Bangalore-based startup Xafari -a Travel platform (Mobile App/Website) that connects travelers with off-beat places and rural small businesses that cater to tourism. The startup is at the
pre-seed/POC stage.
“We showcase rural small business by curating their stories, providing them a dedicated space on the platform and by promoting them to travelers. We provide travelers information about a large repository of places to visit. Each of these places have content curated in-house containing detailed information, stories, local
legend and folklore,” says Goutham. “Rural, small tourism businesses in India are un-represented and did not have a platform to showcase themselves. Moreover, urban
millennials are under-informed about these gems that rural India has to offer.”
website: www.xafari.in
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/xafari/id1553662888
PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xafari.app
Xafari was conceived on a road trip Goutham undertook. He ended up having breakfast at a small, thatched eatery run by an old lady that served authentic hot dosas prepared on a woodfire. Just talking to the lady about her story turned out to be an experience in itself. The thought struck that
there was no platform that existed, that showcased such small establishments and
told these gems of stories to travelers.
The company was founded in May 2018 and Goutham quit a job in Acquisitions to work on his startup full time. Covid proved to be a challenging time and the startup
finally launched in December, 2021. In building the POC, the startup has signed up 175+ partners and listed more than 500 places to visit, covering just 15 districts.
Team
The founders are a husband wife team – Goutham and Shipra. Both have a background in project management. They have built a 20 member strong team of content and field explorers. Goutham is also the founder of TheTrippers.in which is a road trip and travel organizing group. He is a Business Management graduate from the University of
Northumbria, Newcastle.
