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Headout Reviews

Bengaluru, Karnataka

4.0/ 5

1 review

Headout is an innovative, rapidly growing travel-technology company that operates an on-demand mobile marketplace designed to help spontaneous travelers discover and book incredible tours, activities, attractions, events, and local experiences around the world. Founded in July 2014 by Varun Khona (who serves as CEO), Vikram Jit Singh (CTO), and Suren Sultania (COO), the company was established to address a critical friction point in the travel industry: while flights and hotels had successfully transitioned online, local experiences remained heavily offline, paper-based, and difficult to secure on short notice. Headquartered in New York City, Headout has established a significant global footprint with critical operational, business development, and technology hubs across Bengaluru, London, Dubai, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The core value proposition of Headout centers on standardizing a highly fragmented experiences market and eliminating booking friction for the direct-to-consumer segment. By utilizing robust API integrations and building a proprietary real-time inventory management system, Headout connects high-quality, hand-picked local experience providers with a worldwide audience. The mobile-first platform offers real-time availability, last-minute deals with competitive pricing, and a fast checkout experience. Its comprehensive catalog spans mainstream attractions, such as theme parks, museums, and Broadway shows, to offbeat regional tours and local workshops. To date, Headout has served more than 50 million guests, expanding its reach to cover over 110 countries and delivering services in 14 languages to cater to a highly diverse international audience. Financially, Headout operates as a privately held, venture-backed enterprise that has scaled aggressively since its inception as a 500 Startups accelerator participant. The company has raised a total of $70.5 million in funding across multiple investment rounds. A major milestone occurred in February 2022 when Headout closed a $30 million Series B funding round, which was subsequently extended with an additional $30 million round led by Glade Brook Capital Partners. Other notable institutional backers include Nexus Venture Partners, Version One Ventures, and Evolvence Equity Partners. This capital infusion has been utilized to accelerate product development, expand into hundreds of global cities, pursue strategic acquisitions, and pioneer AI-driven personalization, such as the launch of its proprietary AI travel planning assistant named 'Huggy.' Operationally, Headout relies on a large, distributed global workforce of over 750 employees. While strategic corporate decisions, marketing, and investor relations are managed from its New York hub, its large office in Bengaluru, India, serves as the primary engine for technological innovation and engineering. Having successfully navigated the pandemic demand collapse to reach operational profitability, Headout continues to optimize its unit economics through product-led growth, aiming to surpass $1 billion in gross bookings value as it solidifies its position as a dominant platform in the global experiences economy.