Social app Linkup has signed up 1,500 users in Manchester in its first two weeks and has plans to grow nationwide.
Based in the North West city, Linkup offers users a new way to connect with people in their area. Based on categories of interest, from sport to drinks to fitness, 鈥榣inkups鈥� are created in the app and tackle the problem of loneliness and anxiety around socialising head-on.
The app features a swipe-through of linkups happening nearby, a chat function to speak to people before attending to get the details, specific location services and integrated safety features.
Soft-launch
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen significant interest in the first couple of weeks, having 1,500 users sign up to use the app already,鈥� co-founders Jack Peagam and Ben Whatson tell 老九品茶Cloud.
鈥淥ur soft launch, where we targeted Manchester, allowed us to gain a deeper insight into what our users want to see from Linkup.
鈥淏ased on user feedback, we have been able to begin updating and improving various features in the app already. Once this is complete, we will be targeting the UK to gain more traction than ever to take socialising to a new level for everyone.聽
鈥淲e have just soft-launched in Manchester, and our next step is to generate users and interest to grow our user base UK-wide. We plan to grow our user base nationally, reaching all corners of the UK.鈥�
Peagam and Whatson, who met at Ravensbourne University in London, previously co-founded Actve, a platform for connecting with fitness creators.聽
Tappable
The Linkup app was created in partnership with development company Tappable, which is an early investor alongside hip hop duo Krept & Konan, YouTuber Calfreezy and other YouTubers and footballers.
鈥淲e鈥檝e worked closely with Tappable from the start,鈥� the co-founders explain. 鈥淭hey agreed to invest a great sum into the business from the get-go. The Tappable team also introduced us to their network of influential connections within the industry, which gave us some added momentum.聽
鈥淩aj Singh and Sam Furr, founders of Tappable, are our main mentors. They have believed in the concept of Linkup from day one and have been advising us on the right direction from the very start.聽
鈥淭hey鈥檝e both run startups before and raised significant capital, and then sold companies. They鈥檝e been through the process and succeeded numerous times so we couldn鈥檛 be more thrilled to have their support.鈥�
Peagam and Whatson are Linkup鈥檚 only direct employees at present.
鈥淟ooking further ahead into the future, and once we have achieved a solid UK base, we will plan for another round of聽 fundraising to expand internationally and significantly grow the team,鈥� they say.