Chimani

National Park Travel Appschimani.com

Chimani is a mobile-first US national park trip planning app with 3.5M+ downloads, offering offline maps, 4,000+ park guides, live alerts, and the ParklyTM AI assistant via a freemium model with a $35.99/year Chimani+ subscription targeting individual outdoor travelers.

Company typePrivate
Founded2010
HeadquartersPortland, United States
Headcount1–10
GTM typeB2C
OfferingSoftware

What Chimani does

Chimani is a mobile-first national park trip planning platform distributed via Apple App Store and Google Play, with a separately incorporated entity (Chimani, Inc.) headquartered in Yarmouth, Maine. Founded in 2010 by Kerry Gallivan and inspired by the Chimanimani Mountains in Zimbabwe, the company operates with a team of 1-10 employees and has accumulated 3.5M+ downloads with a 4.5/5 App Store rating. The product combines a free tier with a Chimani+ annual subscription priced at $35.99, which unlocks offline maps, unlimited personalized trip planning, trip collaboration, the ParklyTM AI assistant, and an ad-free experience. The technology architecture is offline-first, designed for use in parks where cellular coverage is unreliable, with downloadable maps, saved itineraries, and live park alerts that include user-reported observations alongside official condition updates.

The platform's core asset is a content library of 4,000+ professionally written guides spanning US national parks, state parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, national monuments, scenic drives, swimming holes, hot springs, beach access, and historical sites across all 50 states. Feature modules include a Trip Planner, Offline Maps, Live Park Alerts, Visit Tracking with badges and check-ins, Trip Collaboration for group travel, and ParklyTM, an AI-powered conversational assistant that answers practical park questions about trails, timing, facilities, lodging availability, and prioritization. Chimani's go-to-market is product-led and relies on app store discovery, user reviews, and earned media coverage in outlets such as USA Today, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, CNET, and Outside.

The business model is freemium with a single paid subscription tier. Revenue is not publicly disclosed and the only known funding event is a $500,000 round in 2015 from Maine Angels, Maine Technology Institute, and Maine Venture Fund. Chimani is privately held, has no parent company, no disclosed institutional investors beyond the 2015 round, and operates exclusively in the US consumer market. Distribution is purely consumer-direct through digital app stores, with an additional direct website checkout channel for Chimani+ subscriptions.

Chimani firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Chimani
Legal name: Chimani, Inc.
Website: https://chimani.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2010
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1–10 employees
Short description: Chimani is a mobile-first US national park trip planning app with 3.5M+ downloads, offering offline maps, 4,000+ park guides, live alerts, and the ParklyTM AI assistant via a freemium model with a $35.99/year Chimani+ subscription targeting individual outdoor travelers.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Chimani industry classification

Industry

Product category: National Park Travel Apps
NAICS: Tour Operators (56152), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190)
SIC: Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
akta.pro industry: PRIMARYBPAMANAA
Consumer Navigation & Turn-by-Turn Apps
Business & Public Services/Web, Mobile & Digital Platforms/Maps, Location & Navigation Platforms
SECONDARYTHAAAGAB
Guided Tours & Interpretive Services (Ranger-Led, Naturalist, Cultural Interpretation)
Travel & Hospitality/Adventure, Amusement Parks & Ecotourism/National Parks & Protected Area Visitor Services (Concessions, Guided Access)
SECONDARYTHAKAAAN
Review-Led Travel Discovery & Booking Platforms
Travel & Hospitality/Travel Agencies, Tour Operators & OTAs/Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) & Metasearch

Keywords

National park travel
Trip planning app
Outdoor recreation guides
Offline travel maps
Park visit tracking

Where Chimani is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Portland
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Chimani business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Software
Cost components: Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

Chimani+ Subscription: Annual subscription model ($35.99/year) offering unlimited personalized trip planning, offline access to maps/guides/itineraries, trip collaboration features, ParklyTM park assistant access, and an ad-free experience. The subscription targets repeat park travelers who need full offline functionality and advanced planning tools.
Free Tier: Free-to-download app with core trip planning, 70+ professionally written national park & state guides, basic features. Used as a funnel to drive conversions to paid Chimani+ subscription.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Freemium	Others	Free Plan - Basic trip planning and guide access
Subscription	Annual	Chimani+ Annual - Full-featured subscription for repeat park travelers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Chimani product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Chimani develops and sells a mobile trip planning app for US national park and outdoor recreation visitors. The free Chimani app provides 70+ professionally written national and state park guides with basic trip planning, while the Chimani+ annual subscription ($35.99/year) unlocks unlimited personalized trip planning, offline maps and guides, trip collaboration, the ParklyTM AI park assistant, and an ad-free experience across iOS and Android devices.

Product overview

Chimani is a mobile-first national park trip planning platform structured as a free core app with a premium Chimani+ subscription upgrade. The free product provides 70+ professionally written park guides and basic trip planning, while Chimani+ ($35.99/yr) unlocks unlimited AI-assisted trip planning, offline maps, trip collaboration, the ParklyTM AI assistant, and ad-free experience. Key integrated features include Offline Maps for navigation without cellular service, Live Park Alerts for real-time conditions, Visit Tracking for check-ins and badges, Trip Planner for itinerary building, and a library of 4,000+ park and recreation guides spanning national parks, state parks, and broader outdoor destinations across all 50 states. The platform is available on iOS and Android with optional subscription through the website, Apple App Store, or Google Play.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Chimani+: Premium subscription service offering unlimited personalized trip planning, offline access, trip collaboration, ParklyTM park assistant, and ad-free experience.

Quantifiable outcome

3.5M+ downloads since 2010
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use Chimani

Customer profile

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Chimani technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Chimani partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Chimani competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

AllTrails: AllTrails is the leading consumer hiking and outdoor trail app with offline maps, user-contributed trail data, and a premium subscription (AllTrails+). It overlaps directly with Chimani on trip planning, navigation, and outdoor content, but at significantly larger scale.
Gaia GPS: Gaia GPS provides offline topographic maps, hiking routes, and backcountry navigation for outdoor enthusiasts. It competes directly with Chimani on offline-first navigation for US public lands, including national parks and national forests.
Roadtrippers: Roadtrippers is a road trip planning app with curated stops, scenic drives, and attraction discovery — overlapping with Chimani's itinerary builder and scenic drive guides for outdoor travel across the US.

Broad incumbents

Recreation.gov: Recreation.gov is the official federal reservation and information platform for US public lands. It overlaps with Chimani's park discovery and trip planning, but adds reservation/booking functionality that Chimani does not provide.
National Park Service (NPS) Official App: The official NPS mobile app provides park information, news, and basic trip planning for US national parks. It is a broader, government-backed incumbent in the same category as Chimani, with official content authority.
Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor is a broad incumbent travel discovery and review platform. While not specialized in national parks, it competes for the same consumer travel-discovery intent that drives Chimani's top-of-funnel traffic.
Google Maps: Google Maps is the dominant consumer navigation platform with broad coverage of parks and trails. It overlaps with Chimani on navigation and discovery, but lacks Chimani's depth of curated park content and offline-first design for backcountry areas.

Emerging players

Komoot: Komoot is a route-planning app for hiking and outdoor adventures with strong traction in Europe. It overlaps with Chimani on personalized trip planning and trail-based content, but is regional (primarily EU) and emerging in the US market.
Hipcamp: Hipcamp is a marketplace for outdoor stays and a trip-discovery platform for public-land travelers. It shares Chimani's outdoor travel audience and trip-planning mindset, but layers in a booking/commerce component Chimani lacks.
MAPS.ME: MAPS.ME provides free offline maps and navigation worldwide. It overlaps with Chimani's offline map functionality and outdoor travel use case, but without Chimani's curated park guide content and AI assistant.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Chimani financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Chimani leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Chimani funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

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

Chimani M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Chimani

What does Chimani do?

Is Chimani a public or private company?

Chimani is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Chimani founded?

Chimani was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is Chimani based?

Chimani is headquartered in Portland, United States, in the North America region.

How does Chimani make money?

Two revenue lines are on record. Chimani+ Subscription is the primary driver. The others are free Tier.

Who are Chimani's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are AllTrails, Gaia GPS and Roadtrippers. Broad incumbents are Recreation.gov, National Park Service (NPS) Official App, Tripadvisor and Google Maps. Emerging players are Komoot, Hipcamp and MAPS.ME.

Does Chimani have an API?

No public API is recorded for Chimani.

What industry is Chimani in?

Chimani's product category is National Park Travel Apps. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMANAA, Consumer Navigation & Turn-by-Turn Apps, with a secondary code of THAAAGAB, Guided Tours & Interpretive Services (Ranger-Led, Naturalist, Cultural Interpretation). Its NAICS code is 56152 and its SIC code is 7900.