Localbird, an Israeli travel-tech startup founded by two brothers who immigrated to Israel as lone soldiers, has raised a $7.4 million Seed round to expand its AI-powered concierge platform for short-term rentals. The round was led by Ibex Investors with participation from State of Mind Ventures and several prominent angels.
The company sits at the intersection of two rapidly growing industries: short-term rentals, which host roughly 840 million travelers a year, and the booming market for local, experience-based tourism, an area still dominated by offline booking and inconsistent service. Localbird aims to fill that gap by giving property managers the tools to offer guests curated, bookable services and experiences, creating what it describes as a new, infrastructure layer for local commerce.
Each rental property gets a digital concierge trained on local data, property details, guest preferences, and the host’s own knowledge. The AI can recommend activities, coordinate scheduling, ask clarifying questions, and handle routine adjustments. More complex requests, such as special accommodations or supplier approvals, are handed off to a human concierge.
The company shares commissions on every guest booking made through the platform, and says its partners already earn several hundred dollars in extra income per month. Localbird is operating in 45 destinations across the U.S. and Latin America, with more than 10,000 properties and 1,000 vetted suppliers connected to the system.
“Hosts sit on a goldmine of local knowledge but haven’t had an easy, digital way to share and monetize it,” said CEO and co-founder Ben Levy. The idea was sparked during a family trip to Hawaii, where the brothers struggled to find basic activity rentals and ended up flipping through a binder of outdated flyers. That friction, they say, was the seed for a product that blends AI automation with human expertise.
The company’s growth has been shaped by circumstances far removed from the beaches of Hawaii. Founded in 2023 by Ben and his brother Joseph, Localbird was built during a period of war and prolonged reserve service. The brothers logged hundreds of days in uniform, managing the company remotely while teams in Israel and Latin America kept operations running. According to the founders, focusing on cash flow, customer revenue and efficient expansion helped the company quadruple year-over-year growth and close its funding round despite the disruption.
Localbird currently employs about 30 people split between Israel and Latin America, with plans to double headcount across product, engineering, marketing, finance and sales by 2026. The new capital will also support deeper expansion in the U.S. and Latin America, where the company sees growing demand for ways to streamline and monetize the guest experience.