What the company does
Greether is a new travel and safety marketplace for female identified travellers. Its mission is to help women travel safer by connecting them to local female Greeters wherever they go.
The Current Landscape
There currently isn’t a leader in female travel even though the trends show that women travelling the world is growing and therefore the tourism industry should adapt to their needs. Most women express concern for their safety no matter where they are, however they feel most vulnerable when they are at a place they don’t call home.
Women have repeatedly reported incidents of not feeling safe in platforms such as couchsurfing and regular tour operators offer very limiting options for what happens before or after a trip is booked. Greether offers the flexibility to choose “your own adventure” in which you can decide how long the Greeter will be with you, where they will meet you, and what you are interested in doing or seeing, with the flexibility of personalising every encounter. Most importantly, all of their users are verified.
Company Birth Story
In 2020, Vanessa Karel, a serial entrepreneur, finally realised what had been lacking throughout her solo journeys, while travelling alone being stranded in Morocco in the middle of the pandemic: a safe way to connect with locals who could help her out wherever she travelled to. Not finding a platform or service that did that, led to her founding this startup herself. The business name is Greether after a play of the words “To greet” and “her” which describes the core services. The mission of Greether is focused on helping female travellers navigate destinations with fewer risks through a marketplace where women book female Greeters around the world.
The Solution
Greether is a for progress company aligned with some of the most important SDGs and sustainable UN development goals, which are to reduce safety risks for women and to increase income opportunities for them through sustainable tourism. “By using Greether’s services you aren’t only getting the most authentic travel experience of your life, you are also putting money into women’s hands while you travel the world, we call that a win-win”- Vanessa Karel The startup has recently won the sustainability category during a pitch competition at The Future of Travel global conference by Jet Blue Ventures this past September and has also received the winning prize from Mercury bank for the raise first check competition in which over 700 startups competed. The founder, Vanessa Karel was named as one of the 100 rising Latinx founders by Inicio Ventures and a Latinx to watch by Hispanic Executive through her work founding Greether. Having only kicked off the MVP for almost a year, the web app has organically grown users in over 80+ countries and 400+ cities around the world. “We provide travellers with their local best friend”
A Customer Story
"I travel solo all the time, and I was thrilled to find a platform that allowed me to meet local women in a safe way, my experience meeting Andreia (her Greeter in Dublin, Ireland) was so much fun, she took me to the best spots in the city."- Flavia Cornejo (a solo travel blogger)
"This one-of-a-kind tech company that helps women feel safe while travelling to new worldwide destinations. As a traveller, Greether took my travel experience to the next level with their verified greeter. Looking forward to more travel with Greether."- Anibeth Turcios (an entrepreneur who travelled to Toronto for the first time)
The Team Culture
Their team is spread between 4 countries and 80% of their team is made of women of color. Working remotely for over a year, the company encourages their female workers to travel often, to give them perspective on what they are doing and where they can improve.
A founder quote
“I never want to hear another woman say they scared to travel, I want them to know I built this for them, so all of us can choose how much of the world we get to see” Vanessa Karel
Check it Out : https://www.greether.com/
Follow On Social :
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greetherhere/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/greet.her/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Greether_app
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greether
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greet.her
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