Founded in 2023 by Marina Cangelaris, Tukio is a digital platform designed to streamline the often complex process of booking and planning African safaris.
Named after the Swahili word for “adventure,” Tukio empowers travelers to customize their safari experiences with greater ease, transparency, and confidence.
According to phocuswire.com, the platform offers a “smart wizard” that allows travelers to select destinations, dates, budget and travelers, with an algorithm then compiling a safari itinerary. Travelers can change any provided options and then book directly online.
What is your 30-second pitch to investors?
African safari booking has remained in the 2000s at best: Tukio is an innovative multi-destination trip booking platform looking to change this. We’re building a structured inventory of local accommodation, transport and activities, which our proprietary algorithm assembles into customizable itineraries in seconds.
Travelers can instantly view accurate quotes, tailor their experience and book online with trusted local partners across East and Southern Africa. The >$30 billion safari market remains largely offline and fragmented—we’re solving that with technology, transparency and trust. Since launch, we’ve onboarded over 50 local operators across six countries and generated over $100,000 in booking value.
Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.
Business: The safari industry is still dominated by offline processes, with a long chain of intermediaries, outdated pricing models and a reliance on manual quotations. This results in a lack of transparency, high costs and a slow, frustrating booking process for travelers. We are changing this by building a curated marketplace of local suppliers where travelers can find and book the trip of their dreams in minutes.
READ: Africa: Domestic Travel Driving Tourism growth in Kenya as Gen Z engages the Luxury Market
Technology: We are bringing technology to both the user and supplier sides of the equation. To the traveler, we provide a user interface that makes the building of itineraries and quotes intuitive, while providing clear and easy to use customization options. On the supplier side, we are building tools that make it smoother and easier for local operators to receive and accept bookings, bringing the market closer to instant booking, which is the global standard.
Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.
Strengths
- Reduced typical safari inquiry-to-confirmation cycle from days to minutes
- Strong curated local operator network to ensure bookings of top quality
- Proprietary itinerary builder technology based on local feedback
- Founder with deep product/startup experience
Weaknesses
- Supply-side tech adoption is still slow
- High customer acquisition cost in early stages due to crowded travel market
- High booking values mean users still majorly research online and book offline—something that will take time to change
- Limited brand recognition outside niche safari circles
READ: Tourism: Africa Emerging as a Hotspot for High-End And Luxury Travel Experiences
Opportunities
- $30 billion+ offline market with increasing online penetration
- Expanding interest in experiential and sustainable travel
- Agentic AI taking over travel booking gives us the opportunity to leapfrog in the safari market
- Geographic expansion to agent-dominated, multi-destination categories beyond Africa
Threats
- Platform dependency on local partner reliability
- Entrants or global players with deeper pockets copying the model and undercutting
- Macroeconomic instability affecting tourism
- Travel disruptions (e.g., political unrest, pandemics)
What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and industry perspectives?
For travelers:
- Lack of transparency around pricing, logistics and payment options
- Confusion due to scattered information and outdated booking processes
- Slow response times and uncertainty around availability
- Limited ability to compare or customize itineraries easily
For suppliers:
- Difficulty managing inquiries, quotes and calendar availability manually
- No easy way to distribute inventory online or accept payments
- High dependency on third-party agents for leads and sales
Tukio solves these problems by offering instant quotes, streamlined customization and direct online checkout, while also providing tools that help local partners digitize operations and remove unnecessary intermediaries.
So, you’ve got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?
Our growth strategy starts with delivering an exceptional product experience—one that simplifies a traditionally complex process and earns trust from travelers through clarity, speed and reliability.
We believe great customer experiences drive organic growth, especially in a high-consideration category like safaris, where word-of-mouth and personal recommendations carry enormous weight.
Alongside this, we’re investing in building a distinctive brand that resonates with modern explorers, one rooted in transparency, connection and storytelling. Community is a core pillar, both through content and through engaging with travelers and local operators who share our values.
Finally, we’re pursuing targeted strategic partnerships with travel experience platforms—from niche booking platforms to content creators and affiliate partners—to reach high-intent audiences at the right moment in their journey.
Tell us what process you’ve gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.
Tukio was launched out of Antler Nairobi. Through the program, we ran a lot of experiments including questionnaires, paid ads, Reddit threads and user interviews before launching our no-code minimum viable product, which allowed users to book from a selection of 15 lodges in the Masai Mara (in Kenya) and add transportation and activities.
When we started receiving bookings on that platform and listening to the user feedback, we knew that we were onto something. We were also overwhelmed by the positive response from the local operators, from accommodation providers to tour operators and DMCs.
How and when will you make money?
We already are. Tukio operates on a commission model where we earn a margin on every confirmed booking. Most bookings happen in defined seasonal waves (e.g., July-September), so we’re working on stabilizing monthly revenue with diversified destinations and year-round content.
We’re also exploring future monetization through premium partner listings, optional trip add-ons and eventually B2B tools for travel advisors.
What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team?
Founder Marina Cangelaris has 12+ years of experience in the startup and product space, working across tech, e-commerce and international ventures. Her passion for travel, Africa and firsthand experience navigating the broken safari booking process inspired Tukio.
The wider team brings expertise in travel operations, UX design, digital marketing and technology, a combination that enables both strong user experience and efficient supplier onboarding.
How have you addressed diversity and inclusion within your business?
As a woman-founded company operating in both Europe and Africa, inclusion is part of our DNA.
Our local partnerships are built with sustainability and representation in mind, including working with community-owned camps, female-led safari operators and off-the-beaten-path experiences. Internally, we are remote-first and hire across geographies and backgrounds.
What’s been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?
One of the biggest challenges has been building brand recognition in a crowded travel market, especially when operating in a niche that’s both geographically specific and traditionally offline.
Building awareness and trust takes time, particularly when introducing a new way to book something as high stakes as a safari. At the same time, assembling the right team—people who understand both the travel space and the pace of startup execution—has been critical and not always easy.
On the ground, sourcing and onboarding the right local partners who are both tech-ready and aligned with our customer promise has required a careful, hands-on approach. Balancing all of this while maintaining product momentum has been demanding but deeply rewarding.
Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact—so why are you going to be one of the lucky ones?
We are solving a very specific, high-value pain point with the right tech, timing and a strong focus on our customers and partners. The demand for experiential travel is rising, and travelers now expect instant gratification in booking.
We’re not trying to disrupt all of travel, just the parts that are most ripe for change. Our early traction, lean team and customer focused execution set us apart.
A year from now, what state do you think your startup will be in?
We aim to be recognized as the go-to platform for booking African safaris, trusted by international travelers for ease, transparency and speed, and respected by top-tier local operators as a reliable, high-quality distribution partner.
Our focus will remain on building a strong, reputable brand that stands for excellence in both experience and execution. On the product side, we’ll continue to expand features that make discovering and booking safaris even smoother, more personalized and accessible to travelers of all ages, whether it’s a solo adventurer, a honeymoon couple or a multi-generational family trip.
What is your endgame? (Going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.)
Our main driver is to build a product that makes sense to the global traveler.
Once we prove product-market fit in the safari space, we’ll consider expanding to other travel agent dominated verticals. We remain open to all endgame outcomes that would help drive this vision: acquisition by a global OTA, further independent growth or a strategic partnership with an ecosystem player.
