What LOCCO does

LOCCO (operating company: Local Companion GmbH) is a Munich-based startup founded in August 2022 by Johannes Richter (Co-Founder & CEO) and Karlotta Behem (Co-Founder & CPO) that operates a location-based audio platform. The flagship consumer product, LOCCO Drive, is a free mobile app for iOS and Android that automatically plays 2–5 minute audio "shortcasts" about landmarks, cities, castles, and regions when a user passes them while driving, walking, or cycling. Triggering is driven by live GPS and the app runs in the background without interrupting the user's own music or podcasts. Coverage spans six European countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, France, Italy) with a curated library of more than 500 geo-tagged audio stories refreshed on a weekly cadence.

The underlying technology combines GPS-triggered audio orchestration with curated and AI-assisted content production, supported by a small engineering team of three named professionals including a fullstack software engineer with prior automotive in-car services experience. The company operates a B2B Partner Platform that lets route-side businesses (cafés, restaurants, wineries, museums) commission audio stories surfaced to LOCCO Drive users in real time, and it maintains a strategic co-development project with Audi Denkwerkstatt to test and further develop LOCCO Drive for in-vehicle integration.

The business model is dual-sided: the consumer app is free with no paid tier, and monetization is intended to come from B2B partner audio placements sold directly to route-side SMBs, supplemented by the Audi Denkwerkstatt OEM co-development engagement that could convert into a licensing or embedded-distribution revenue stream. LOCCO has received programmatic and accelerator backing from Techstars (accelerator, funding disclosed in 2023), MediaLab (Media Startup Fellowship), UnternehmerTUM (UTUM, Munich-based TUM-affiliated startup hub), and Audi Denkwerkstatt. The company is actively hiring in AI content production, marketing, and UX/UI design, signaling early scaling beyond the founding trio.

Name

LOCCO

Legal name

Local Companion GmbH

Website

https://locco.app

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LOCCO (Local Companion GmbH), founded August 2022 in Munich, operates LOCCO Drive, a free mobile app that automatically plays GPS-triggered 2–5 minute audio stories to drivers, walkers, and cyclists across six European countries, alongside a B2B partner platform serving route-side SMBs and an in-vehicle co-development project with Audi Denkwerkstatt.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Location-based Audio Streaming

akta.pro primary industry

Short-Form Live/Stories & Ephemeral Video Platforms (MPACAHAD)

Keywords

• Location-based audio
• Travel audio guides
• Audio shortcasts
• Geofenced audio content
• In-vehicle audio streaming

Headquarters

HQ city

München

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. B2B Partner Audio Advertising: Businesses located along popular travel routes pay to be featured as curated location-triggered audio recommendations (cafés, restaurants, wineries, museums). Partners are selected to fit the user audience, creating a high-intent, geo-targeted audio advertising inventory sold directly via the partner program.
2. Automotive OEM Co-development Project: Strategic project with a major German car manufacturer (Audi, via Audi Denkwerkstatt) to test and further develop LOCCO Drive for in-vehicle integration. Currently a project/development engagement with potential to convert into a licensing or OEM revenue stream.
3. Consumer App (Free): The LOCCO Drive consumer app is offered as a free download on iOS and Android with no direct consumer monetization in place; the consumer product is the demand-side audience that monetizes through the B2B partner audio advertising stream.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LOCCO runs a location-based audio platform that automatically plays 2–5 minute cultural "Shortcasts" to users as they drive, walk, or cycle past points of interest, with audio triggered by live GPS coordinates. The platform is delivered through the LOCCO Drive consumer mobile app (iOS and Android, free download) and a B2B Partner Platform that enables route-side businesses such as cafés, restaurants, wineries, and museums to commission audio stories surfaced to nearby LOCCO Drive users.

Product overview

LOCCO (legal entity: Local Companion GmbH, founded August 2022 in Munich) operates a single, location-based audio platform that is delivered through two complementary offerings: LOCCO Drive, the consumer-facing iOS/Android mobile app that auto-plays personalized cultural audio ("Shortcasts") based on the user's live GPS location while driving, cycling, or walking, and the LOCCO Partner Platform, the B2B side through which local businesses commission personal audio stories that are surfaced to nearby LOCCO Drive users. The two products share the same audio delivery infrastructure and curated content library (500+ audios across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, France, and Italy), with the Partner Platform effectively feeding the consumer app's "tips and recommendations" experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LOCCO Drive: LOCCO's mobile application that delivers location-based, automatically triggered audio "shortcasts" (2-5 minutes) about sights, cities, regions, castles, monasteries, and recommendations for cafés, restaurants, and wineries along the user's route. Currently in a project with a major German car manufacturer.

Products and services

• LOCCO Drive (consumer mobile app) Free consumer mobile app (iOS and Android) that automatically plays short 2–5 minute audio stories ("Shortcasts") about sights, cities, castles, regions, and landscapes as the user passes them, with triggering based on live GPS location, background playback support that coexists with the user's own music or podcasts, and a points-collecting mechanic for discovering regions. Available on the Apple App Store (id 6449049188) and Google Play (com.locco.android) and targeted at drivers, cyclists, and walkers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, France, and Italy.
• LOCCO Partner Platform B2B platform that allows route-side businesses (cafés, restaurants, museums, wineries, and other attractions) to submit information via a signup form and have LOCCO produce a personal audio story ("audio spot" of approximately 2–4 minutes) that is played to LOCCO Drive users in their immediate vicinity. The offering emphasizes curated exclusivity and proximity-based audio reach, with the stated goal of driving walk-in foot traffic ("Laufkundschaft") to the partner venue.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ location-tagged audio shortcasts available across 6 countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, France, Italy)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Audi (Audi Denkwerkstatt)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerShown on the LOCCO homepage under "Wir werden unterstützt von" and confirmed by the careers page as a major German car manufacturer with whom LOCCO is running a project to test and further develop the LOCCO Drive mobile app. Audi Denkwerkstatt is Audi's innovation and venture unit. This is a strategic co-development partnership targeting future in-vehicle integration of LOCCO Drive.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Detour: Detour produces location-triggered audio walking tours that play automatically as users move through a city — the closest direct conceptual peer to LOCCO's location-aware shortcasts, focused on foot rather than driving.
• VoiceMap: VoiceMap is a global marketplace for GPS-triggered audio tours covering cities and routes worldwide, directly comparable to LOCCO's geo-tagged shortcast model though it relies on user-initiated playback.
• HearHere: HearHere streams short, location-triggered audio stories about the places drivers pass on road trips, with a comparable 2–5 minute format and driving-first use case that mirrors LOCCO Drive's core experience.
• GPSmyCity: GPSmyCity offers self-guided audio walking tours and travel guides tied to GPS location, overlapping with LOCCO on location-aware audio storytelling for travelers and drivers.

Broad incumbents

• Spotify: Spotify is the dominant audio streaming platform and an incumbent with both the user base and audio infrastructure to layer location-triggered audio into its existing music/podcast experience, posing a long-tail competitive threat to LOCCO.
• Google Maps: Google Maps already has the live GPS, navigation and POI data LOCCO relies on, and could trivially add location-triggered audio stories, making it a powerful incumbent that could compress LOCCO's category if it chose to enter.
• Apple Maps: Apple Maps ships natively on iOS with rich location and POI data and could natively add contextual audio storytelling, directly threatening LOCCO Drive's iOS distribution and in-car (CarPlay) experience.
• HERE Technologies: HERE is a leading location data and in-vehicle navigation platform serving most global automakers; it is comparable to LOCCO as both an automotive embedded location-content player and a potential OEM competitor or partner.
• Sygic: Sygic is an established navigation app with audio-guided tours and trip content for drivers, overlapping with LOCCO's location-triggered in-car audio storytelling from an incumbent navigation perspective.

Emerging players

• Roadtrippers: Roadtrippers is a road-trip planning app that helps drivers discover attractions and stops along a route — an adjacent player serving the same 'drivers discovering places' use case but focused on planning rather than in-trip audio.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/yourlocalcompanion
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/loccoapp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 LOCCO