What Vibemap does

Vibemap is a city discovery platform that operates a dual consumer-and-enterprise business built around a "vibe"-based recommendation system. The consumer-facing product is a mobile app available on iOS and Android that lets users browse, filter, and discover places, events, and experiences using emotional categories (Buzzing, Dreamy, Old School, Quiet Energy, Playtime, Togetherness) layered on top of traditional categories (Food, Art, Music, Outdoors, etc.). The recommendation engine combines location-based services with natural language processing to match users to venues based on the atmospheric qualities they select, rather than generic ratings or categories.

The underlying technology stack includes AI-powered automated business listings that create and maintain place and event data, generative AI for producing copyright-free images and sentiment-rich descriptions, and an event calendar module with automated data aggregation. Vibemap has built a proprietary dataset of "vibe" attributes mapped to venues and neighborhoods across 13+ cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The platform's B2B product suite consists of embeddable Interactive Maps, Digital Passports (gamified challenges with badges and rewards), Event Calendars, the May 2025 Itinerary Builder, AI-powered Business Listings, and Marketing Solutions.

The business model is primarily B2B SaaS and licensing, not consumer monetization. Vibemap sells annual subscriptions and per-implementation deals to destination marketing organizations, business improvement districts, main street programs, downtown associations, and festivals. Pricing is quote-based and undisclosed, with a demo-driven inside-sales motion operated through HubSpot. The consumer app is free and functions largely as a brand and data-acquisition surface, while enterprise customers (Visit Oakland as flagship, plus Discover Peoria, Charlotte Center City Partners, Union Square Partnership, Downtown Evanston, and others) pay for embeddable tools, seasonal passport campaigns, and event marketing infrastructure. Vibemap is privately held with 1–10 employees, founded in 2020, and headquartered in the Oakland/Berkeley area of California; no funding rounds, investors, or revenue figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Vibemap

Legal name

Vibemap

Website

https://vibemap.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vibemap is a city discovery platform that uses AI-driven, vibe-based recommendations to help consumers find places, events, and experiences, and sells embeddable maps, digital passports, event calendars, and itinerary tools to destination marketing organizations, downtown associations, and festivals across 13+ cities in North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Software

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Destination & Local Services Marketplaces (Transfers, Guides, City Passes) (THALAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local & City Guide Content Aggregators (MPACAKAJ), B2B OTA/White-Label Booking Platforms & Affiliate Networks (THAKAAAO)

Keywords

• Destination marketing software
• City discovery platform
• Interactive mapping solutions
• Digital tourism tools
• Event calendar software

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

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. B2B Marketing Solutions for Destinations: Vibemap generates revenue by selling marketing solutions to destination marketing organizations (DMOs), cities, districts, and main street programs. These include digital passports, event calendars, interactive maps, and business listings - typically sold as annual subscriptions or per-implementation deals with demo-driven sales.
2. Platform Licensing and White-Label: The company offers embeddable tools (Itinerary Builder, Event Calendars) that can be licensed and white-labeled for city and district websites, providing recurring licensing revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Vibemap operates a dual-sided city discovery platform: a free consumer mobile app (iOS/Android) that matches users with places, events, and experiences based on "vibe" using NLP and location data, and a B2B suite of destination marketing tools sold to DMOs, main street programs, and downtown associations. The B2B offering includes Digital Passports, Interactive Maps, AI-powered Business Listings, Event Calendars, Itinerary Builder, and Marketing Solutions, typically delivered as annual subscriptions or licensed/white-label embeddable widgets.

Product overview

Vibemap is a city discovery platform consisting of a core mobile app (iOS and Android) and a suite of destination marketing modules. The core Vibemap app enables users to discover places, events, and experiences based on 'vibes' (emotional/mood-based categories like Buzzing, Dreamy, Chill, Old School) and traditional categories (Food, Art, Music, etc.). This core is complemented by B2B products including: Business Listings (AI-powered automated data management), Interactive Maps (data-enriched embeddable maps), Digital Passports (gamified challenges with badges and rewards), Event Calendar (AI-powered event aggregation and curation), Itinerary Builder (itinerary creation tool for events/festivals), and Marketing Solutions (social/digital marketing for destinations). These products work together to serve destination marketing organizations, main street programs, downtown associations, and festivals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vibemap Mobile App A free consumer city discovery app available on iOS and Android that helps users find places, events, restaurants, and experiences matching their selected vibe, mood, or energy using location data and NLP-based recommendations. Covers 13+ cities across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
• Business Listings

Quantifiable outcome

• 200,000+ visitors to featured cultural destinations (Clarion Alley)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Discover PeoriacoreGTM or Marketing PartnerDiscover Peoria is a non-profit tourism organization that uses Vibemap to promote Peoria, Illinois as a travel destination. JD Dalfonso, President & CEO, has publicly endorsed Vibemap as an 'incredibly important thread' in their tourism marketing efforts, noting it supports economic opportunity across their service area.
• Charlotte Center City PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharlotte Center City Partners partnered with Vibemap to create the official Charlotte SHOUT! festival website with an integrated Itinerary Builder for 2025. CM0 Rick Thurmond described the goal as creating 'an emotional connection to place' by letting people chart their own course through festival exploration.
• Visit OaklandflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisit Oakland partnered with Vibemap for multiple initiatives including East Bay Open Studios Challenge, Oakland Restaurant Week (140+ restaurants), and Oakland Summer Vibes Passport featuring local attractions like Oakland Roots/Soul soccer, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland Zoo, and Children's Fairyland.
• Union Square PartnershipcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerUnion Square Partnership in San Francisco uses Vibemap's interactive maps on their website. Director of Planning Tali Cantor praised the tool saying 'Vibemap made our website magically come alive for the first time!'
• Downtown EvanstoncoreGTM or Marketing PartnerDowntown Evanston implemented Vibemap's interactive maps and city discovery features. Executive Director Laura Brown stated 'There was Evan's website before Vibemap and after Vibemap. It was painful before you came along.'
• Oakland Art MurmurminorGTM or Marketing PartnerOakland Art Murmur, an organization supporting Oakland's arts scene, has partnered with Vibemap. Executive Director Jean Marie Duran noted 'Vibemap gets people out in real life and supports local communities in a way we never had before.'
• Visit TucsonminorGTM or Marketing PartnerVisit Tucson uses Vibemap's platform to enhance visitor engagement and promote Tucson as a destination.
• TampaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerTampa destination marketing uses Vibemap to promote Tampa Bay experiences and drive visitor engagement.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Bandwagon: Event-driven local discovery platform using social proof and check-ins. Comparable as a smaller, niche consumer-discovery app focused on events and local experiences, illustrating the category of competitors Vibemap faces in the consumer app stores.

Direct peers

• Tripadvisor: The dominant consumer travel discovery and review platform. Comparable because both Vibemap and Tripadvisor help travelers discover places, experiences, and attractions in destinations, with overlapping category coverage (Food, Attractions, Things to Do) and shared reliance on user reviews/recommendations.
• Atlas Obscura: Discovery platform for unique places, experiences, and food worldwide. Comparable because Atlas Obscura sells curated city guides and experiences (including a marketplace for bookable experiences) — directly overlapping Vibemap's 'meaningful places' discovery value proposition.
• Simpleview: Leading CRM, CMS, and digital marketing platform purpose-built for destination marketing organizations. Comparable because Simpleview's core customers are exactly the DMOs and tourism boards Vibemap sells to, making it the most direct enterprise competitor in the DMO technology stack.
• Yelp: Leading local business discovery platform. Comparable because Yelp powers place and experience discovery for consumers in cities, with overlapping category coverage (Food, Arts, Nightlife, Shopping) and similar reliance on user-generated content and business listings — Vibemap competes for the same local-discovery use case.
• Foursquare: Pioneer in location-based discovery and check-in apps with a city exploration app (Foursquare City Guide). Comparable because both products recommend venues based on location and user preferences, and Foursquare also sells location intelligence (Pilgrim SDK) to enterprises — the dual B2C/B2B model mirrors Vibemap's structure.
• Eventbrite: Largest events marketplace for consumer experiences. Comparable because Vibemap's Event Calendar product and Eventbrite both aggregate and surface local events to consumers, with overlapping use cases around city-based event discovery and tourism promotion.

Broad incumbents

• Sojern: Digital marketing platform purpose-built for the travel industry, serving destinations, hotels, and attractions. Comparable because Sojern sells demand-generation and audience-targeting technology to the same DMO buyer that Vibemap targets with its marketing solutions module.
• Google Maps: Default local discovery platform with massive reach and POI data. Comparable because Google Maps handles consumer place/event discovery that Vibemap addresses, and Google also partners with DMOs through its tourism programs — it is the broad incumbent whose data scale Vibemap's recommendation engine must compete against.

Others

• Placer.ai: Location analytics platform used by Vibemap as a data partner. Comparable because Placer.ai powers foot-traffic insights for retail and destinations, serving many of the same DMO and downtown association customers — Vibemap's consumer-facing insights sit adjacent to Placer.ai's enterprise analytics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vibemap
• Facebookfacebook.com/VibeMap-109004567265508
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vibemap
• Instagraminstagram.com/vibemap

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Vibemap