Localbird is a travel-tech startup from Israel, created by two brothers who moved to the country as lone soldiers. The company builds an AI-powered concierge service that helps people staying in short-term rentals get better support during their stay.
The startup has now raised $7.4 million in Seed funding to grow its platform. The investment round was led by Ibex Investors, with additional support from State of Mind Ventures and several well-known angel investors.
Localbird works in two fast-growing areas: short-term rentals, which are used by about 840 million travelers every year, and the rising demand for local, experience-based tourism. Right now, booking local activities is often done offline and the service quality can be uneven.
Localbird wants to solve this problem by giving property managers a simple way to offer guests curated activities and bookable services. The company says it is building a new type of system that helps connect local businesses with travelers more smoothly.
Every rental property gets its own digital concierge. This AI assistant is trained using local information, property details, guest preferences and the host’s personal tips. It can suggest activities, help schedule bookings, ask follow-up questions, and manage simple requests automatically.
If a guest needs something more complicated—like special arrangements or approval from service providers—the request is passed to a real human concierge. This ensures guests always get the right help when needed.
The company earns money by sharing commissions from every guest booking made through its platform. It says that property partners already make a few hundred extra dollars each month using the service. Localbird currently works in 45 destinations across the U.S. and Latin America, connecting more than 10,000 rental properties with over 1,000 trusted local service providers.
“Hosts sit on a goldmine of local knowledge but haven’t had an easy, digital way to share and monetize it,” said CEO and co-founder Ben Levy. The idea was sparked during a family trip to Hawaii, where the brothers struggled to find basic activity rentals and ended up flipping through a binder of outdated flyers. That friction, they say, was the seed for a product that blends AI automation with human expertise.
Localbird’s growth story is very different from what you might expect. The company was started in 2023 by two brothers, Ben and Joseph, during a time of war. Both founders spent long periods serving in the military, often working on the company remotely while wearing their uniforms. Meanwhile, their teams in Israel and Latin America kept the business operating smoothly.
The brothers say that focusing on steady cash flow, earning money from customers, and expanding carefully helped the company grow quickly. Despite the challenges, Localbird managed to grow four times bigger compared to the previous year and successfully raise its funding round.
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