Romanian Gamified Tourism Platform Questo Raises €300K And Aims To Grow To 100 Cities By The End Of The Year
Questo, a Romanian startup that gives tourists a mobile platform to explore cities through games, has received a €300K investment in a round led by Sparking Capital and joined by Early Game Ventures. The traveltech venture will use the funding to expand to more cities through local storytellers and tour operators.
Currently, visitors of 70 cities all over the world can explore destinations by following clues and solving riddles and Questo wants to grow this number to 100 by the end of 2020.
“Cities are the world’s best playgrounds, but for some reason, most of us are playing indoors. With Questo, we are on a mission to change this by working with tour operators and local storytellers worldwide, who are designing their own quests, each with a unique theme. Imagine exploring London as Sherlock Holmes, Paris as Picasso or Zurich as Einstein” says Alex Govoreanu, co-founder and CEO at Questo.
In 2019, over 50k people explored cities with Questo’s gamified tours, walking for a total of more than 200k kilometers. Besides being a fun way to get to know a location, the app is also budget-friendly with tours ranging from €5 to €20.
The platform also opens up an opportunity for tour operators to adapt to the social distancing reality of the COVID-19 world as Questo’s app enables private tours without the need for guides or gathering of large groups. In addition, many of the quests have been designed to lead travelers to discover hidden gems and places that are that popular.
“We are happy to announce a new investment in a talented founding team and an innovative product, which challenges the status-quo of classic city travel via a self-guided tour, delivered through an app. Responding to the needs of having an engaging, immersive, private and safe city exploration experience, consumers can explore landmarks from all over the world, from Montmartre to Manhattan and from Secret Passage at Chimalistac in Mexico City to the Old Town and Temples of Bangkok, commented Vlad Panait, co-founder and general partner at Sparking Capital.
