Rayka announces the launch of their mobile application in the app store (iOS), enabling users to find or post recommendations of favorite places, experiences, or things to do both at home and abroad.
Rayka's founders are looking to solve an important problem: 1-5 star ratings and review platforms are subjective and their reviews are often paid for or fake. As consumers of these reviews, how do you know which reviews are meaningful? People care about and trust recommendations from their friends, friends of friends, or other influencers and experts.
Rayka's solution is a recommendation platform designed for users, empowering them to choose who they follow and from whom they source information. From friends and family, to bloggers, to celebrities, users can view recommendations from people they follow both locally and around the world. Users can add their own favorite places and create lists of their personalized recommendations as well. When a friend asks where to eat, what to see, and where to go on a trip, this detailed information is contained within one place and is easy to share. For instance, check out Mayor Tecklenburg's local Charleston favorites, Charleston-based Food In The Air's favorite places to eat in the area, and former Congressman Mark Sanford's favorite travel recommendations.
Holy City Sinner is happy to share that founder and creator Christian Senger has contributed several recommendation lists to the app.
Sal Lavallo, the youngest American to travel to every country in the world, joined the Rayka team this past summer. “I am constantly asked for travel recommendations. Rayka fills the gap between social media platforms and review sites by letting users see recommendations from people they know and trust, which is such an improvement from having to rely on outdated 1-5 star reviews from strangers. I have no doubt that there is a need for this.”
Rayka is available in the App Store now. Web and Android are coming soon!
Founded in 2016, Rayka is the creation of Charleston local Landon Sanford. The company boasts a robust advisory board with executives from LendingTree, UBER, and Plated. Rayka has received investments totaling over $1 million to date. In addition, Rayka recently won Atlanta's Startup Battle in November of 2018.
