STARTUP STAGE: Freddy is changing city tours with augmented reality

What is your 30-second pitch to investors?

Discover what is around you in one place: point of interest information, news and engaging games in augmented reality for the whole family on vacation.

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Freddy is an app that allows travelers to explore what is around them in augmented reality. 

The app has two main features: A free discovery map (for those that want to walk around without following a set route) to play and learn as they decide where to go. 

There are self-guided tours in augmented reality where the traveler follows our robot Freddy from one point of interest to the other, while he/she plays games (always in AR) to collects points and prizes. 

We also allow users to create their own tours either for themselves or to sell on the Freddy platform to other travelers that want to explore a city at their own pace.

Once the tour information is uploaded, our system automatically makes an AR tour from the created tour. When it is approved by our content team, it goes live on the app.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths: Unique product, new AR technology, bringing the gig economy to tours.
• Weaknesses: Not the first player in standard tour activities or augmented reality games.
• Opportunities: Create billion-dollar partnerships with brands for AR digital billboards.
• Threats: Newcomers in the industry, terrorism, political changes in the top countries for tourism.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

• Time constraints that go with booking a standard guided tour.
• Boredom from the lack of personalized information on a tour.
• More engaging options for families with children that need to be entertained while they learn.
• Currently, travelers must use different platforms to really discover what is around them (maps for directions, news sites for breaking news, Wikipedia for landmark information, etc.)

With Freddy you can:

• Get live news around you (coming soon).
• See landmarks and points of interest based on the category of your choice.
• Play games in AR that pop up to entertain you or your children.
• Get navigation for every landmark or point of interest that you want to visit.
• Buy entrance tickets from participating landmarks or museums.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

• Through organic campaigns (Facebook, Instagram, other niche social media channels for travelers with kids).
• Geo-targeted campaigns.
• Co-branding.
• Public relations.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

We did desk research, we looked at the bookable tours online on various websites and we went on actual tours around Europe (London, Rome, Paris, Berlin and a few other cities).

We talked to people and they gave feedback that made us think we should pursue the idea.

The addressable market is worth more than $200 billion as it combines tours and activities with the gaming market.

How and when will you make money?

Partnerships, white-label experiences for museums and cities, tour commission and our own marketing platform, which is already built in the system.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team?

• Liesbeth Sohier - co-founder and CEO: An entrepreneur since the age of 15, Liesbeth had several companies growing up. She produced her own musical at the age of 16. Liesbeth founded a software company for hospitals to centralize medical files and optimize the appointment system. She has extensive experience in leading teams and innovation.
• Cristina Lai - co-founder and CMO: A marketing specialist with experience in user acquisition and retention. She was part of the marketing team at Deliveroo HQ (London), responsible for the growth of several European markets (Germany, Italy, Spain, France). Previously she worked for OakFurnitureLand (United Kingdom), helping the company close the gap between offline and online revenue attribution.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Trying to be up and keep a positive attitude even during days and weeks where nothing seems to go the right way.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of the lucky ones?

You start a business by believing in it and the market either accepts you or it doesn’t. But starting a business without thinking of succeeding is not a good way to start it at all. 

We want families to enjoy vacations and explore together. The children and parents segment of the travel industry is often neglected. We want to bring fun and engagement to an industry that has a desperate need for new and fresh ideas.

A year from now, what state do you think your startup will be in?

Expanding in even more cities globally and allowing our users to use us wherever they go on holiday.

What is your end-game? (Going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.)

Our end-game is to keep growing and become the best-known travel game app globally.