RuddBuddy aims to be travellers companion in new cities with listings of tour guides and activities

Imagine travelling or moving to a place and facing all these struggles of adjusting to the new language, logistics, food habits, shopping etc. This is when one wishes they had a friend they could fall back on to ease the process. Sudeep Reddy started RuddBuddy because he wanted to ease the same pain point of people travelling to a new place and not knowing how to navigate it.

Sudeep (28) says, "With RuddBuddy we have brought on board several local experts who can help you explore a place, and people have also made new friends in the process. These range from college students to professional guides who bring their flavour of the city."

Sudeep , inspired by his father, who himself is a first-generation entrepreneur, decided to move back from US to start RuddBuddy. He is an MS in Electrical Engineering. He founded the company in May 2016 and is the sole founder of his venture.

It is a platform for experiential activities and micro tours of a place. The startup connects people who can offer unique activities, tours, workshops with those who are looking to experience them.

Core product offering

RuddBuddy’s website allows people to both list or find unique things to do or explore in a city. It curates, markets and service all offerings listed on the website.

Sudeep explains, "Imagine coming to Hyderabad and not knowing the best place to eat biryani, or how to get there or what to expect from the service. Through RuddBuddy you can discover people who offers unique tours and activities at a place. You can request them to be your experience provider and they can accompany you, help you speak the language and give you a truly local experience. You can even end up learning to bargain at a local market and save up much more than you otherwise would without any help."

Market size

The travel and tourism industry was worth $125 billion in 2015. Leisure is close to$40 billion currently.

RuddBuddy have been able to process several hundred transactions since inception with GMV over Rs 5 lakh. This too operating only in Hyderabad. They aim to be in multiple cities with an exponential growth in revenue by the end of the year.

They plan to monetise through ratings, referrals, profile, social settings on the website which will translate into safe haven and brand loyalty. Their service providers would be their asset where they market about their offering among their network and in turn RuddBuddy gets marketed.

The startup is bootstrapping as of now. They claim to have managed the burn rate at this point.