Atly Launches with $18 Million in Funding to Introduce the Next Social Paradigm for Mapping and Discovering Places to Go

Atly combines the power of social media-like knowledge sharing with mapping and location discovery tools to fuel a seamless, high-fidelity search experience

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Atly, the user-generated social mapping platform purpose-built for discovering places to go and things to do, today announced its official launch with $18 million in funding from Target Global, Tal Ventures, and FKA Brands to offer users seamless, effective, and trustworthy location-based content. In its open beta to date, Atly witnessed thousands of user-created community-based maps, with hundreds of new maps generated organically each month across verticals like food and restaurants, travel, nature and the outdoors, parenting, and more.

Digital search is currently undergoing a massive transformation as people turn to an ever-growing list of resources beyond traditional search engines to decide their next moves. Often, they rely on social media over Google Search and Google Maps for destination, activity, and purchase recommendations that feel authentic, up-to-date, and personally curated for them. But platforms like TikTok and Facebook weren't purpose-built for location-based discovery. Social media users are forced to dig through never-ending streams of stories and posts, whose usefulness counterintuitively dissipates the more information is shared, and are faced with limited location-based search, filtering, and bookmarking capabilities. Meanwhile, creators and businesses suffer limited monetization among an audience not necessarily intent on immediately visiting the places they discover while scrolling aimlessly. As a result, people pay the price of wasted time and effort as well as inferior real-life experiences, and creators and businesses suffer lower ROI.

Atly leverages social media-like user-generated knowledge with mapping and location discovery tools to help people find their new favorite places. In the Atly app, users create and join map-based communities centered around the things they love. Atly creates a go-to source for previously unmapped content and surfaces gems of information from like-minded people that allow users to trust in the authenticity, integrity, and specificity of every recommendation they uncover. In doing so, Atly gives people intent on discovery the confidence that they're sure to enjoy the places they visit, and creators and businesses are met with higher conversion. The funding will allow Atly to invest in state-of-the-art algorithms and overall performance, to release much anticipated product features and updates, and to collaborate with additional creators.

"From Blogger to YouTube to Instagram and TikTok, people seek both community and information online, and they're often finding that intersection on social media. But there is a gaping hole when it comes to location-based information, which is where Atly comes in," said Uriel Maslansky, CEO and Co-Founder of Atly. "We have combined everyone's favorite ingredients – the timeliness and authenticity of user-generated content created by a like-minded, trusted source, the utility and ease of visual mapping, effective tools for hyper-specific discovery, and the thrill of engaging, perfectly on-point content – to allow anyone with an interest, need, or passion to easily unearth their next favorite place to go or thing to do."

"It makes no sense. We search for things like 'cafe' or 'restaurant,' when in reality, these are simply proxies for the things we are actually searching for, whether that's a place that serves cold brew or some mouth-watering French toast. And when we finally find a place, the rating and reviews are unreliable. Is the cafe rated 3.5/5 because of the coffee? The atmosphere? Weak Wi-Fi? Talk about a mediocre search experience," said Joshua Kaufman, Atly Co-Founder. "At Atly, we are bringing mapping up to speed with the modern world by enabling people to search for the specific things they actually want – and our organically grown user-base is proof that we're fulfilling this need."

"We immediately recognized Atly's ability to revolutionize the mapping ecosystem by bringing both trustworthy social content and a seamless experience to location-based search," said Gal Shmueli, Partner at Tal Ventures. "We are excited to support Atly's vision to enable people to find the places to go and things to do that best align with their unique needs and interests, and we look forward to watching them continue to meet the growing market demand."

Download Atly for free in the App Store or Google Play Store by clicking here.

About Atly

Atly (formerly Steps) is a user-generated mapping platform purpose-built for discovering places to go and things to do. The Tel Aviv and New York-based startup is dedicated to facilitating location-based knowledge sharing by enabling users to create groups for like-minded people about the places and things they love. Atly's proprietary collaborative app blends the visual intuitiveness of mapping with the niche-based specificity of online forums or interest groups, all while leveraging the self-perpetuating insights of social media community sharing. Founded by Uriel Maslansky, Aviad Coppenhagen, and Joshua Kaufman, Atly has raised $18 million from investors including Target Global and Tal Ventures.

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