Verlocal raises $2.65M to teach you to cook ramen and dance like Beyonce

Verlocal, a marketplace for classes and tours, raised a $2.65 million seed round from VenturesLab, Seven Seas Partners, Amidzad Partners, and Big Basin Capital, the startup shared today.

Verlocal is like an Airbnb for experiences, where locals can host lessons for other locals and travelers, such as this DIY Ugly Sweater Workshop (other classes include “Don’t Worry, Be Yonce“).

Oddly, Airbnb already offers its own Experiences, although it has severely downplayed the idea so far.

With this new fund, Verlocal aims “to become the largest marketplace for experiences in the world,” challenging the similarly-branded Airbnb, plenty of related sites, plus niche marketplaces like the fitness-focused ClassPass.

With two lead investors operating in Asia — VenturesLab and Seven Seas Partners — Verlocal plans to expand to “China, Korea, and Japan … within six months.” But as of today, the one-year-old company operates in New York, San Francisco, and seven other U.S. cities.