Flox, an app to help friend groups meet each other, is wooing college students in NYC – TechCrunch

There’s nothing just like the rising pains of latest maturity, however for college-aged gen Z-ers who’ve spent these early life in lockdown, it may be much more troublesome to type significant friendships. Whereas attending Columbia College remotely through the pandemic, first-generation faculty scholar Jamie Lee realized how this isolation was affecting her friends, particularly those that would journey to highschool for his or her sophomore or junior years with out having met any classmates in particular person but.

“Since I had first downloaded Instagram in center faculty, I’ve at all times simply been presenting myself on-line as a person, however I felt like I used to be having a whole lot of nervousness about not presenting myself authentically on-line,” Lee instructed TechCrunch. “I needed to lean into that concept of, okay, how can we discover a method to join folks authentically? And I assumed one of the simplest ways to do this can be with our buddies, who we’re most genuine round.”

In summer season 2020, Lee launched a no-code beta check for Flox, an concept for an app that will assist folks meet. It’s like Tinder, Hinge, or Bumble, the place you create a profile and match with others, solely you’re signing up as a gaggle and connecting with different teams of buddies.

“Individuals gave me suggestions that it was probably the most enjoyable they’d had on-line in endlessly, in order that was my turning level the place I used to be like, this could possibly be one thing tremendous critical, and I knew that it was now or by no means,” Lee mentioned.

So, she dropped out of Columbia with only a 12 months left of faculty to cost full-speed forward on the app.

Picture Credit: Flox

In February 2021, Lee and two full-time engineers — the extent of her group — performed an alpha check with round 250 customers, which then developed into a personal beta check solely in New York Metropolis for undergrads and up to date graduates. By now, their waitlist has over 20,000 customers, however Lee says within the subsequent month or so, Flox will start opening as much as college-aged New Yorkers on the waitlist earlier than increasing to different cities in a while. Plus, Flox simply closed a $1.2 million funding spherical led by Honeycomb Asset Administration, with BBG Ventures and Banana Capital taking part.

“I’m not gonna lie, elevating my first spherical was extremely troublesome. I’m Puerto Rican and Chinese language, I used to be 21 on the time, I by no means had any background on this, and I had identical to, dropped out of Columbia,” Lee mentioned. “Going into these conversations, I feel folks positively had opinions fashioned about me earlier than the dialog started. I used to be instructed in a pitch assembly to be extra like Zuck.”

As a founder creating a platform for folks in her personal age group, Lee is wise about how she markets the app — she needs to make it really feel genuine. So, she’s met her viewers the place they’re on TikTok, posting promotional movies concerning the app which have gone viral, garnering about 1.8 million views over three posts.

“You may’t even go to the toilet alone,” Lee says in one TikTok. “So why are you on these courting apps alone?”

Flox isn’t the primary app to attempt group-based social networking — Tinder had this concept with Tinder Social, a characteristic that allow you to be a part of teams with your mates and match with different teams. However the characteristic was discontinued slightly over a 12 months after a rocky launch in 2016, when it accidentally revealed who in your contacts had a Tinder profile. Lee mentioned that she thinks Tinder Social didn’t work as a result of Tinder had already branded itself as a courting (or hookup) app — and because you solely had one profile, you’d be displaying the identical model of your self to potential buddies and potential dates.

“We need to transfer away from the give attention to the person, as a result of I feel that factors to courting,” Lee mentioned. “We need to actually lean into the group id, so that you may see a flock referred to as ‘house 11,’ and then you definitely would see who makes up the group, moderately than, listed here are these people who type the group. It’s reversing what’s emphasised.” Whereas the main focus is on assembly new folks, Lee hopes that buddies who make a Flox group (a Flock) collectively might be introduced nearer too.

Regardless that Bumble began as a courting app too, it additionally now has modes for making buddies and discovering enterprise companions. Lee cites Bumble BFF as an inspiration for Flox, however she mentioned that when she used the app, it appeared like most individuals mentioned they have been searching for roommates, moderately than seeking to make new buddies.

“Gen Z is probably the most lonely, anxious, depressed technology, and there’s so many individuals who want buddies,” mentioned Lee. “However there’s a social stigma that [using one-on-one friendship apps] carries with it. Sadly, oftentimes, while you’re searching for buddies one-on-one, what that suggests to the opposite particular person, or to anybody who may know that you simply’re on Bumble BFF, is that you simply don’t have any buddies, and that doesn’t actually put you in a fascinating place. So our aim with Flox can be to make it far more comfy, secure and enjoyable, eradicating that social stigma behind buddy discovering.”

The app hinges on Lee’s speculation that individuals are most comfy assembly new folks when their current buddies have their again. However the group dynamic provides a built-in layer of security. Regardless that Flox isn’t a courting app, Lee is aware of that some individuals are going to make use of it for that goal — however assembly new folks in teams might help mitigate the dangers inherent in assembly strangers one-on-one.

“I had a very dangerous expertise on a courting app once I was within the metropolis a few years in the past, and I bear in mind reporting the incident, and nothing was adopted up on, and I simply didn’t really feel protected on that platform,” Lee mentioned. “One of many first conversations I had with customers final 12 months was folks mentioned, ‘I’m not comfy assembly up with different folks on courting apps, as a result of I really feel unsafe one-on-one.’ So we actually need to give folks this extra comfy, secure atmosphere to fulfill folks.”

With Flox’s latest seed spherical, Lee hopes to proceed constructing out the app and letting increasingly customers in — however she needs to take it gradual to be sure that the expertise stays constructive and genuine for current customers.