There are always two ways to explore a city, one is to do the must-dos and go the touristy way and then the other route is to immerse yourself into the experience of a city. LokaLocal is your gateway for all unexplored and local experience in Malaysia. More than a business enterprise, LokaLocal is empowering a community of locals who serve as experts for these authentic experiences. At first glance, you can’t help but compare the striking similarity between LokaLocal’s website www.lokalocal.com with Airbnb.

We happened to speak to Rachael Lum from the LokaLocal team who primarily comes with a background in advertising and is handling content, communication and social media among many roles at the startup. Rachael who herself went for a 3 months break in Europe before joining the travel startup, that the key to LokaLocal is connections with village hands and 800+ experiences with 400 hosts. The company plans to have 1000+ experiences by the end of the year.

This year LokaLocal has its plans set towards venturing into all states in order to bring up Malaysia as a whole. by on-boarding more local experts.

The team currently consists of 6 full-time people which includes folks from ops, tech, marketing and business team. The team has its plans set on app which is currently in the development phase.

From a customer standpoint, a huge part of the segment is expatriates rather than locals (Approximately 50%-60% are expatriates followed by locals). LokalLocal has also signed contracts with global channel/distribution partners.

Last year, South Korean venture capital firm BonAngels had invested in LokaLocal to further accelerate the growth of the travel startup. The startup wants to build on its mission of working closely with cultural space owners and event organisers.

 With Airbnb getting deep into the activities space, it will be good to see how LokaLocal creates a niche for itself. For more details, visit https://www.lokalocal.com/.