Locals.org, London’s fastest growing ‘real life’ social networking platform for entrepreneurs and aspirational people, has officially launched in the UAE, following a $11 million USD round of seed funding.
Over 200,000 entrepreneurs have already joined the app, which provides an innovative way to connect aspirational people in real life via their common interests, whether people want to grow their network, talk business, play sports, socialize or find new like-minded people. By empowering people to connect online and to meet in real life, the platform provides an opportunity for users to both host and participate in various activities and events. Over 25,000 events have already happened so far on the platform and 400,000 connections have been made between users.
Dubai-based entrepreneur and former Miss World Australia and philanthropist Jessica Kahawaty, hosted the Padel tournament on Locals.org, which saw over 50 entrepreneurs attend the event, with a video snippet of the event going viral, garnering 170 million views on Instagram. Locals.org Dubai Padel Tournament Instagram reel has become one of the most viewed sports videos ever.
Sam Altman (founder of Open AI), Nik Storonsky (founder of Revolut), Jeremy Jauncey (founder of Beautiful Destinations, creator of MyDubai), Michael Acton Smith (founder of Calm), Camilla Al Fayed (founder of Farmacy), Pavel Durov (founder of Telegram), Natalia Vodianova (supermodel and co-founder of Locals.org), Herman Narula (founder of Improbable) and Matthew Freud (founder of Freud Communications) have hosted meetups and events via Locals.org in the past two months.
Due to its rapid rise, Locals.org has been featured as Apple’s ‘App of the Day’ in the UAE, paying testament to the vast number of users both locally and worldwide.
Locals.org is the brainchild of serial entrepreneurs and founders, Eugene Nevgen, Natalia Vodianova, Sergey Gonchar and Timon Afinsky. The platform has major ambitions with its mission being to create the largest online ‘real-life’ social networking community for entrepreneurs in the Middle East, helping locals connect to other entrepreneurs globally.
As well as providing a platform to bring people together for their personal interests and hobbies, the platform, launched in London in 2021, has a growing entrepreneurial community, enabling business leaders and budding entrepreneurs to come together to network, meet and to help grow their business — whether they have an idea, are just starting out or are looking for advice on how to scale and grow.
The app is backed by VC investors including Goodwater Capital, TheSoul Publishing and Michael Antonov (co-founder of Oculus), and its launch in Dubai is part of a wider plan to expand into the wider Middle East region to provide a unique way and community for people to connect online and to meet in real-life.
Commenting on the launch in Dubai, Eugene Nevgen, Co-Founder and CEO of Locals.org, said: ‘We are thrilled to be launching and scaling in the UAE. The country has always been a hub for entrepreneurs with over 94 per cent of the businesses in Dubai alone classified as small and medium-sized enterprises. We want to bring our unique social networking vision to the market – so that entrepreneurs and world changers can connect with like-minded people whether for networking or simply based on the social activities they enjoy.
‘With more than 170 million views, our Padel event video was a roaring success and it demonstrated the huge appetite that exists in the region for a unique approach to social networking in real life. Through activities and events-based approaches we are going to create a powerful and safe community that will foster meaningful connections and become a catalyst for entrepreneurial growth in the UAE.’
The Founders have ambitious plans for growing the platform, dubbed ‘the app for ‘real life’ social networking in the region:
Locals.org co-founder Natalia Vodianova added: ‘The Middle East is a melting pot for talent and entrepreneurialism. We want Locals.org to provide an avenue where we can not only connect people with fellow entrepreneurs and businesses, but to go one step further and provide an opportunity for people to find communities or events to facilitate connection in real life.
‘We hope that by providing both a meaningful online and offline experience, we will create a solid community as well as help people to grow and do business, thus supporting the leadership’s D33 economic goals to double the size of the economy by 2033. ‘It’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur, the ways of doing business are changing, and we’re happy to have created an ecosystem that supports this growth online and offline.’
