“That’s our powerful core technology,” Kandler says.Īfter that, it has also built out a flexible framework to bring in lots of other web data, such as Wikipedia for location history, itineraries through GetYourGuide, local restaurants and sites, and the ability to look up and book hotels via. The key point of this is that it gives you high-quality maps in compressed files that can be used even when you are without a data connection - a key point, considering that the app is aimed at travellers, and they may turn off costly data roaming services when not at home. Using basic map data from OpenStreetMap, Kandler says Ulmon created its own IP around certain features, such as its map rendering engine. (The free version is limited to five destinations.)ĬityMaps2Go is at its heart a smart aggregating service. Ulmon’s flagship product, CityMaps2Go, is sold as both a free and paid app, with the bulk of downloads - as you would expect - being of the free version, with people making in-app purchases of $2.99 to unlock unlimited maps and related travel information. Kandler says that last year’s 6 million downloads were around four times those of the more high-profile Lonely Planet, and nearly nine times that of Triposo, a venture-backed travel app startup founded by ex-Googlers. (Little/telling sidenote: I was interested in this story initially because I know that my husband, very much a non-tech type, happens to use the app.) Vienna-based Ulmon, founded by self-professed “travel geeks” first as a side project, has been described as Europe’s largest travel startup you’ve never heard of, and for many of you reading this that’s likely to be a fairly accurate assessment. It follows a bigger trend of millions being poured into the travel sector.

“Seeing how our competitors have taken in funding, we were certain that we had much better chances to keep lead over competitors if we could do the same,” he says. But Ulmon decided to take funding “to double down and really speed up process of growth. It’s currently cash-flow positive, Florian Kandler, Ulmon’s co-founder and COO, tells me. Ulmon had 6 million iOS and Android downloads in 2013 and over 10 million since 2010, and up to now had been entirely bootstrapped. The exact amount was not disclosed but TechCrunch understands it’s under $5 million. Ulmon, the travel app developer behind the popular CityMaps2Go apps, has raised its first round of funding, a seed investment from Global Founders Capital, VC started in 2013 by Oliver and Marc Samwer of Rocket Internet fame and Delivery Hero’s Fabian Siegel.

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