Localbird, a travel‑tech startup, has just raised a $7.4 million seed round.
By Hezy Laing
It’s hard enough starting your own company without having to fight a war while you’re doing it.
But that is exactly what Ben and Joseph Levy did.
Two American Jewish brothers who immigrated to Israel as lone soldiers – they later founded Localbird, a travel‑tech startup that has just raised a $7.4 million Seed round.
Their journey is not only a story of entrepreneurship but also of resilience under fire, as both founders spent hundreds of days on reserve duty during the recent wars, balancing military service with the demands of building a company.
Localbird was established in 2023, in the midst of conflict, when the brothers were repeatedly called up to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
While they were in uniform, their teams in Israel and Latin America kept operations running, and the founders managed strategy remotely between deployments.
This dual existence—soldiers by day, entrepreneurs by night—shaped the company’s culture of discipline, efficiency, and focus on cash flow.
Despite the disruption, Localbird achieved quadruple year‑over‑year growth, proving that wartime resilience could translate into business success.
The company’s platform sits at the intersection of two booming industries: short‑term rentals, which host 840 million travelers annually, and local experience‑based tourism, still dominated by offline booking.
Localbird’s hybrid AI‑human concierge system allows property managers to offer curated services—everything from private chefs to guided tours—while earning commissions on each booking.
Already operating in 45 destinations across the U.S. and Latin America, the platform connects more than 10,000 properties with 1,000 vetted suppliers, generating hundreds of dollars in extra monthly income for hosts.
The inspiration came during a family trip to Hawaii, where the brothers struggled to book basic activities and were handed a binder of outdated flyers.
That frustration sparked the idea of a digital concierge blending AI automation with human expertise.
Today, each property gets a concierge trained on local data, guest preferences, and host knowledge, capable of handling routine requests while escalating complex ones to human staff.
The Seed round was led by Ibex Investors, with participation from State of Mind Ventures and prominent angels including Elad Kushnir and Tal Shoham.
Localbird now employs about 30 people split between Israel and Latin America, with plans to double headcount by 2026.
The new capital will fuel deeper expansion in the U.S. and Latin America, where demand for streamlined guest experiences continues to grow.
For Ben and Joseph Levy, the company is more than a startup—it is proof that even under the strain of war and reserve duty, Israeli entrepreneurs can build global platforms.
Localbird’s story highlights the unique challenges faced by founders who serve their country while simultaneously reshaping industries abroad.
