Hiiker, a Dublin based start-up for hikers, is expanding its rollout in Britain and continental Europe in a drive to add more users, particularly paid premium subscribers.

“We want to continue our high pace of growth and increase revenue. The majority of our users are split between Ireland, the UK and US, but the majority of revenue comes from Ireland,” Eoin Hamilton, co-founder of Hiiker, told the Business Post.

“We need to drive international paid users by getting more relevant content on the platform and using the correct marketing channels. In 2024 we’ll focus more on the United States.”

Hiiker is a mobile application that helps people to plan and navigate hikes and walks all over the world. The business was founded in 2019 by Hamilton, Mark Finlay, Paul Finlay and Pete Britton. It has 12 staff and has raised €650,000 to date.

“We give users a whole heap of suggestions for walks with over 25,000 curated maps, along with the ability to use local topographic maps. These can be used to plan a hike, drawing a route on a map and recording it so they can see where they are going,” Hamilton said.

The company is supported by Enterprise Ireland and Hamilton said it was crucial in allowing the founders to focus on the business full time.

“The New Frontiers programme allowed Paul Finlay to go full-time on the project before the rest of us made the move. Afterwards we were selected for the NDRC accelerator programme, after which we got further funding from Enterprise Ireland,” Hamilton said.

“As well as the funding, they have been instrumental in getting us connected with the right people – particularly links around the outdoors and start-up business world.”

Hamilton said the growth of the business in recent times has enabled it to set out its ambitious plans for the next two years.

“Back in 2021, when we got our first funding, we had about 100,000 users. That was targeted at a specific type of user, a long-distance hiker, so they were rarely on for that long. Last year we made it a more engaging platform for all types of hikers,” he said.

“Since we did that, growth has exploded. In January we hit 600,000 users. That’s a big number but we want to continue that growth and convert those users into paid users.”

This Making it Work article is produced in partnership with Enterprise Ireland

Reporting: Business Post