In 2009, Dylan Thuras and Joshua Foer founded
as a passion project, aiming to create a collaborative, online form of a travel book. Since then, the project has morphed into a comprehensive digital atlas of the world’s most wondrous and unusual places, touting headlines such as “The enigmatic art of America’s secret societies” and “Why there’s no such thing as a Brooklyn accent.”
Now, growing at a fast clip, the publication features articles, travel tips, strange facts and event details and aims to appeal to an intellectually curious and cultured audience. Think Vice meets National Geographic.
Last week, Atlas Obscura raised a $2.5 million round, following an exponential rise in site traffic over the past year. The round was led by New Atlantic Ventures and The New York Times.
This financing trailed a $2 million round raised last year, which included investments from notable media leaders such as Kevin Ryan (founder of Gilt, Business Insider, Zola Registry and MongoDB), Henry Blodget (editor and CEO of Business Insider), Bryan Goldberg (founder and CEO at Bustle), and Alexis Ohanian (cofounder of Reddit).
Over the past year, Atlas Obscura also brought on David Plotz, the former editor-in-chief of Slate, as the company’s CEO.
“I was looking for something that had the chance to genuinely change how people viewed and experienced the world,” said Plotz. “When you talk to Dylan and Josh, you get the sense that when Atlas Obscura works, it has the ability to make people see the world afresh.”
According to Plotz, Atlas Obscura isn’t a travel site per se, but more of a lifestyle brand.
Online content is saturated, providing virtual glimpses into the world more than ever before, and the company’s mission is to provide a different way of looking at the world.
The site is also community based, depending on its collaborative audience to contribute insight into the world’s obscure and unchartered wonders. To date, contributors have submitted over 9,000 places to the site’s “atlas” component.
I mined the site for esoteric places I've never heard of, and quickly went into a blackhole of wanderlust. The platform functions intuitively and is quite handy for organizing your travels, specifically in terms of places you've been and destinations you want to visit. I even went so far as to contribute a new post to the atlas, recalling one of my favorite secret spots in Los Angeles.
Last week, Atlas Obscura launched a completely new site des ign, with an aesthetic overhaul that enables readers to more easily share content. The redesign also highlights community members and provides an enhanced mobile experience.
According the Plotz, the new funding will be used to expand the community aspect of the company, in addition to developing its sales and marketing team.
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