elves

What elves does

Elves is a mobile-first travel concierge platform, founded in 2016 and headquartered in El-Gouna, Egypt (legal entity: Elves App Inc., United States). The company connects travelers with a network of licensed local travel experts ("Elves") available 24/7 via in-app chat for personalized itinerary planning, restaurant and nightlife reservations, flight and hotel bookings, transportation, and real-time trip changes. A separate Excursions Platform (excursions.elvesapp.com) enables direct booking of curated guided tours across six destinations: Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Bulgaria. The service is free to end users, with monetization via commissions and referral fees on booked excursions, hotels, flights, and ancillary travel services.

The core technology combines an AI-assisted chat interface with live human local experts, positioning human empathy and on-the-ground local knowledge as the primary differentiator against pure-play automated travel assistants. The app is distributed through iOS and Android stores with a self-serve, product-led growth motion. Elves has accumulated over 1.2 million registered users, a 4.8 average app store rating, and average sessions exceeding 35 minutes. The company is led by co-founders Karim Elsahy (CEO) and Abeer Elsisi (COO), supported by a CTO and VP of Growth, with a headcount of 51–100.

Elves is privately held and backed by Sawari Ventures, Emaar, Kauffman Fellows, Dubai Angel Investors, Acasia Group, Trend Forward Capital, and Intelak Hub, with disclosed funding of approximately $4M across three rounds (2017, 2019, 2020). The business model is a freemium travel marketplace: no user fees, with revenue derived from transaction commissions on bookings facilitated through partnerships with licensed tour operators and travel service providers across its destination portfolio.

Name

elves

Legal name

Elves App Inc.

Website

https://elvesapp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Elves is a mobile travel concierge app that connects travelers with licensed local travel experts via 24/7 chat for personalized itineraries and bookings, operating a freemium commission-based marketplace across six destinations (Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria) with 1.2M+ registered users.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cairo

HQ country

Egypt

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Excursion and Experience Bookings: Platform enables users to book excursions, activities, and experiences in destination countries. The company appears to earn commissions on these bookings through partner tour operators.
2. Travel Services Commission: Facilitates bookings for flights, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and transportation, earning referral or transaction fees from partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Elves is a mobile travel concierge app that connects travelers with local travel experts ("Elves") via 24/7 chat for free, personalized trip planning, itinerary customization, and on-the-ground support. The company also operates an Excursions booking platform where users can reserve curated guided tours and activities across six destinations (Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria), and facilitates bookings for flights, hotels, restaurants, and transportation.

Product overview

Elves is a travel app offering a mobile concierge service that connects travelers with local 'Elves' (travel experts) available 24/7 via chat. The core Elves App provides personalized trip planning, itinerary design, recommendations, and booking assistance for flights, hotels, restaurants, and transportation. The product ecosystem also includes a separate Excursions Platform (excursions.elvesapp.com) for booking curated guided tours and activities. The company covers six destinations: Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Bulgaria. The service is free to use with no membership fees, operating as a chat-based interface that handles everything from COVID requirements to flight changes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Elves App (Mobile Travel Concierge) A free mobile travel concierge application (iOS and Android) that connects individual travelers with local travel experts ("Elves") via 24/7 chat for personalized trip planning, itinerary customization, local recommendations, and booking assistance for flights, hotels, restaurants, and transportation.
• Excursions Booking Platform A separate online booking platform (excursions.elvesapp.com) where users can browse and book curated guided tours, activities, and excursions in supported destinations including Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Bulgaria.
• Bulgaria Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Bulgaria, including Black Sea catamaran cruises, Sozopol walking tours, Varna sightseeing, quad bike adventures, boat trips with fishing, and jeep safaris.
• Portugal Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Portugal, including Lisbon bike tours, Sintra and Cascais tours, Madeira day tours, Algarve jeep safaris, Lisbon sunset sailing, and dolphin/whale watching.
• Greece Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Greece, including Rhodes day cruises, Knossos tours, quad safaris, shipwreck beach tours, and island hopping to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga.
• Spain Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Spain, including Alhambra day tours, Marbella sailing and dolphin watching, hot air balloon rides, buggy safaris, Alcudia boat trips, and Caves of Drach tours.
• Turkey Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Turkey, including Bosphorus dinner cruises, Turkish bath experiences, Istanbul food tours, whirling dervishes shows, Istanbul city tours, and Cappadocia hot air balloon trips.
• Egypt Excursions Curated excursions and tours available for booking in Egypt, including Pyramids and Egyptian Museum tours, Luxor day trips, snorkeling tours at Abu Dabbab, Orange Bay trips, and Sharm El Naga experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.8 app store rating indicating high customer satisfaction
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Licensed & Registered Tour CompaniescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorking partnerships with licensed and registered tour companies to provide secure, comfortable travel experiences. These partners enable the booking of excursions, activities, and tours across all 6 destination countries.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• GetYourGuide: Berlin-based global marketplace for tours, excursions, and activities, with strong presence in Elves' destinations (Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria). It is the most direct large-scale comparable in the experiences-booking category Elves competes in.
• Viator: Tripadvisor-owned marketplace for tours, activities, and excursions worldwide. Like Elves, it monetizes via commission on bookings and operates across Elves' six destinations.
• Klook: Asia-headquartered travel activities and services booking platform rapidly expanding into Europe and MENA. Competes with Elves in the same activity/excursion booking category with a mobile-first, commission-based model.
• Headout: Mobile-first marketplace for tours, attractions, and experiences, with growing European and MENA coverage. Closely mirrors Elves' combination of last-minute bookings, curated supply, and app-led distribution.
• ToursByLocals: Marketplace for private, locally-guided tours across hundreds of destinations. Direct analog to Elves' named-expert, concierge-led model of connecting travelers with individual local guides.
• Withlocals: Netherlands-based platform for private tours and 'experiences with locals.' Highly comparable to Elves' positioning of booking personal, vetted local experts for curated travel experiences.
• TourRadar: Marketplace for multi-day guided tours and adventure holidays. Adjacent in the tours/excursions category, particularly for Elves' jeep safaris, cruises, and multi-activity packages.

Emerging players

• Lokafy: Toronto-based platform offering private walking tours with local guides on demand. A smaller, more niche competitor to Elves' named-expert, chat-driven concierge model.

Broad incumbents

• Airbnb Experiences: Experiences booking layer within Airbnb's global accommodation platform. A much larger incumbent that overlaps with Elves' excursions marketplace across all six of Elves' destinations and can leverage Airbnb's traveler funnel.

Regional players

• Wego: Dubai-headquartered online travel agency focused on the MENA and Asia-Pacific regions. Competes with Elves for MENA-bound traveler mindshare on flights, hotels, and activities, but does not specialize in the local-expert concierge niche.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/elves
• Instagraminstagram.com/elvesapp_
• Xx.com/elvesapp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/elves

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 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 elves