SmartGuide

What SmartGuide does

SmartGuide is an AI-powered digital audio guide platform serving the global tourism industry. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, the company enables tourism boards, destination marketing organisations (DMOs), museums, attractions, and tour operators to publish and manage multilingual multimedia travel guides that individual travelers consume through a unified mobile application. The platform combines a content management system (CMS) with AI-driven features including personalised recommendations, an integrated AI chatbot, automated itinerary planning, AI text-to-speech narration, auto-translation across 30+ languages, GPS-based location triggers, offline maps and downloadable tours, and 3D augmented reality experiences.

The underlying technology stack covers 100,000+ places of interest, 10,000+ audio tours, and 1,600+ destinations supported by 6,000+ local guides, with 99.99% platform uptime. A big-data analytics layer produces meter-level visitor behaviour data — dwell time, movement patterns, language preferences, and content popularity — sold as a destination-management insight tool to B2B customers. The platform reaches 1.5 million+ individual travelers and is GDPR-compliant, with recognition including a 2020 European Commission Seal of Excellence, UNDP support, and a Forbes "Revolution in travel" endorsement.

Revenue is generated across four streams: a consumer freemium model (free app with SmartGuide Premium at ~€7.49/month or ~€19.99/year unlocking the AI chatbot, itinerary planner, exclusive guides, and offline access), B2B platform licensing for tour operators priced €98–€780/month by annual passenger volume, AI translation services (~€200 per language), and optional paid editorial review. Named customers include Switzerland Tourism, CzechTourism, SalzburgerLand Tourism, Jungfraujoch, Deutsche Bahn, Thames River Sightseeing, Pilsner Urquell, Regiojet, Leipzig Tourism, and Moldova Tourism. The company also receives non-dilutive public funding from the European Commission (NextGenerationEU), the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR SIGMA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Czech Development Agency. Leadership comprises Jan Dolezal (CEO), Ondrej Panek (Co-founder), Mirek Zappletal (CPO), Filip Kinsky (CTO), and Vaclav Jurcicek (CSO); total disclosed equity funding to date is approximately $1.85M.

Name

SmartGuide

Legal name

SmartGuide s.r.o.

Website

https://smartguide.app

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SmartGuide is an AI-powered digital audio guide platform that enables tourism boards, museums, attractions, and tour operators to publish multilingual multimedia guides. Its mobile app serves 1.5 million+ travelers across 1,600+ destinations with personalised recommendations, AI narration in 30+ languages, and offline access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Audio Guide Platform

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Tours, Activities & Experiences Booking Marketplaces (THALAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

B2B OTA/White-Label Booking Platforms & Affiliate Networks (THAKAAAO), Travel, Hospitality & Local Discovery Recommendations (HDAAAGAG)

Keywords

• Digital audio guide
• Tourism technology platform
• Mobile travel guide
• Multilingual content management
• Visitor engagement software

Headquarters

HQ city

Prague

HQ country

Czechia

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Consumer Premium Subscriptions: Free app download with optional Premium subscription (~€7.49/month or ~€19.99/year) unlocking ad-free experience, AI chatbot, itinerary planner, exclusive guides, and offline downloads
2. B2B Platform Licensing: Tour operators and travel businesses pay monthly fees based on annual passengers: €98/month (<3,000 passengers), €195/month (<10,000), €390/month (<30,000), €780/month (<100,000). Includes CMS access, private-branded content, ad-free premium for users.
3. Premium Private Content Access: Content providers can sell or distribute premium content via activation links/QR codes. Becomes Premium Private Content once €200/month threshold is met. Fees on flat fee or pay-per-user basis.
4. Manual Content Review: Optional paid service for editorial review and content polishing before publication. Includes up to 2 hours of editorial work to ensure quality standards.
5. AI Translation Services: AI translation of guide content into additional languages at ~€200 per language for B2B partners

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

SmartGuide operates an AI-powered digital audio guide platform consisting of a consumer-facing mobile app and a B2B content management system (CMS). The platform enables tourism organizations (tourism boards, museums, attractions, tour operators) to publish self-guided multilingual audio tours across 30+ languages, while travelers access personalized, AI-curated itineraries, offline maps, 3D AR experiences, and visitor-behavior analytics on a single app. Revenue is generated through consumer premium subscriptions and tiered B2B platform licensing priced by annual passenger volume.

Product overview

SmartGuide is an AI-powered digital audio guide platform that operates as a unified ecosystem with two primary interfaces: a mobile app for travelers and a CMS for content providers. The platform enables tourism organizations (tourism boards, museums, attractions, tour operators) to publish and manage multimedia guides that travelers access through the SmartGuide app. Key components include the SmartGuide Mobile App (core consumer-facing product), SmartGuide CMS (content creation and management system), SmartGuide Premium (subscription add-on), and vertical-specific modules like SmartGuide for Tour Operators. The platform leverages AI for personalized recommendations, chatbot assistance, itinerary planning, and automated content translation/narration across 30+ languages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SmartGuide Mobile App A mobile application for individual travelers that provides self-guided audio tours, personalized AI recommendations, offline maps and itineraries, 3D AR experiences, and big-data-powered destination guidance across 30+ languages. Available free on iOS and Android with an optional Premium subscription.
• SmartGuide CMS (Content Management System) An AI-powered online content management system that enables tourism organizations (tourism boards, museums, attractions, tour operators) to create, upload, and manage multimedia guide content including text, photos, videos, audio materials, and points of interest with auto-translation and text-to-speech capabilities across 30+ languages.
• SmartGuide Premium A premium subscription service (~€7.49/month or ~€19.99/year) for the SmartGuide Mobile App that unlocks an ad-free experience, access to the integrated AI chatbot and itinerary planner, exclusive guides, and offline download capabilities.
• SmartGuide for Tour Operators A B2B platform module providing tour operators with private-branded audio guides accessible via QR codes or activation links, with pricing from €98/month based on annual passenger volume. Includes ad-free premium experience, offline access, and customer analytics.

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.99% platform uptime
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature8 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• izi.TRAVEL: izi.TRAVEL is a digital audio guide platform offering self-guided city tours via mobile app with CMS for content providers. It is the most direct comparable to SmartGuide, competing head-to-head for tourism boards, museums and city tours with similar QR-code-triggered audio storytelling.
• Vox City: Vox City provides self-guided walking audio tours through a mobile app, white-labeled for hotels, tourism boards and OTAs. Like SmartGuide, it sells B2B white-label audio guide infrastructure to tourism organizations across multiple cities.
• GuideID: GuideID is a digital audio guide platform that replaces traditional museum handheld devices with BYOD smartphone tours, including CMS and analytics. It is a focused competitor in the museum and cultural-institution vertical that SmartGuide explicitly targets.

Broad incumbents

• Bloomberg Connects: Bloomberg Connects (Bloomberg Philanthropies) is a free app offering audio guides, maps and content from 300+ museums and cultural institutions globally. It is a comparable destination-content platform with strong institutional backing, though distributed free rather than via B2B SaaS fees.
• GetYourGuide: GetYourGuide is a global tours, activities and experiences marketplace with a far larger scale and capital base than SmartGuide. It overlaps with SmartGuide's tour-operator and attraction customers, though it primarily books transactions while SmartGuide delivers in-destination content.
• Viator: Viator (a Tripadvisor company) is a leading tours-and-activities marketplace. It is comparable to SmartGuide as a buyer and seller of tour-operator inventory, but at vastly greater scale and focused on booking rather than on-destination digital guiding.
• Klook: Klook is an Asia-based tours, activities and attractions booking platform. It overlaps with SmartGuide's attraction and tour-operator customer base, particularly across Asian destinations, where it increasingly offers in-destination digital content alongside booking.
• Headout: Headout is a curated marketplace for tours, attractions and experiences. It competes with SmartGuide for the same attraction-operator and tour-operator customers and is moving into on-site digital content layers adjacent to SmartGuide's offering.
• TourRadar: TourRadar is a multi-day guided-tour marketplace connecting travelers with tour operators. It serves an overlapping B2B customer base (tour operators) with SmartGuide, although its primary product is tour booking rather than in-destination digital content delivery.

Emerging players

• GPSmyCity: GPSmyCity offers self-guided walking tours via mobile app with offline GPS-triggered content, comparable to SmartGuide's offline map and itinerary feature. It is a smaller, content-led competitor with a similar traveler-facing value proposition but limited B2B CMS infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCdyY_A_NVN_3NGsfw6OXxsA
• Facebookfacebook.com/SmartGuideApp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smart-guide

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SmartGuide