Entrepreneur Nicola Gunby’s Cliq social networking app has already raised $646,000

Nicola Gunby, a 30-year-old entrepreneur, longed for a neighborhood of mates when she moved to London after the pandemic, however was shocked to search out herself remoted in one of many largest cities on the planet.

Gunby, the co-founder of social and neighborhood networking app Cliq, hails from Nottingham within the U.Ok. and settled in London along with her accomplice Jason Iliffe in 2021 after a stint in Australia.

Gunby and Iliffe have been anticipating to turn into embedded within the metropolis’s social scene however quickly discovered that assembly folks was a wrestle.

“How are you going to be in a metropolis of tens of millions of individuals however wrestle to search out true connection?” Gunby stated. “It felt actually inconceivable.”

Gunby tried every part. She attended networking occasions for feminine founders however discovered them too company. She even turned to apps like Bumble BFF, which she discovered to be “tremendous transactional,” whereas Fb teams have been “so outdated.”

Gunby and IIiffe quickly realized that the problem was far greater than themselves and began musing over the concept of a social networking platform that introduced folks collectively in actual life.

After drawing up some plans, they employed an app company to construct the barebones of an app and trialed it at universities.

Cliq, which was based in February 2023, is described as an antidote to stereotypical social media platforms. Customers can be part of communities centered on their pursuits and hobbies which might vary from working, studying, Pilates, and faith-based teams.

The aim of the communities is to rearrange occasions so customers can meet up in particular person and kindle friendships.

“It is simply making it simple to fulfill folks in an genuine manner … and educating folks to place their cellphone down, which may be very tough this present day when our display time is so excessive and we’re so hooked on our telephones,” stated Gunby.

Since its launch, Cliq has raised £528,900 ($646,000) in funding and constructed a base of 100,000 customers worldwide, with the U.S., Australia and Bali its major markets exterior of the U.Ok.

The creation of Cliq comes as folks seek for connections amid what’s been described as a “loneliness epidemic.”

Gallup’s world loneliness ballot, which collected knowledge in 2023, confirmed that one in 5 folks surveyed worldwide felt lonely “lots of the day.” The identical demographic of individuals have been extra prone to say that they felt anger or bodily ache.

U.S. Surgeon Common Vivek Murthy’s 2023 report “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” highlighted that loneliness is turning into a rising problem throughout generations and is a superb threat to bodily well being contributing to issues like dementia, stroke, and even untimely demise.

“It is 100% a world problem,” Gunby defined. “The pandemic made us much more introverted as folks … I believe it made lots of people a bit of bit scared to socialize once more.

“That is popping out of the works now, and persons are wanting that in actual life, connection,” she added.

The loneliness problem has additionally been exacerbated by know-how and social media, in keeping with Gunby.

“We really feel so linked by means of our telephones that we will see what our mates or influencers are doing consistently, however many of those folks we do not truly see, so we really feel like we’re linked on the floor degree, however after we look deeper down, we’re truly actually not,” she stated.

“The loneliness disaster goes up and up and up, and so many individuals are on the lookout for connection, however not one of the apps are doing something to unravel this.”

U.S. Surgeon Common Vivek Murthy not too long ago instructed “The Oprah Podcast” that one answer to loneliness is to not focus extra on ourselves, however to concentrate to the world exterior us by investing in three issues: relationships, service and neighborhood.

“After we deal with connecting to one thing greater than ourselves, that is truly after we discover pleasure,” he instructed Oprah Winfrey in a January episode of her podcast.

Gunby stated the rationale why Cliq works is as a result of its communities function round a shared curiosity and objective. She described a distinction between social networking apps and social media apps.

A social networking app is much less about consuming content material and extra about connecting with mates, Gunby stated, citing the outdated days of Fb for example of this.

“The youthful era, and we communicate to lots of them … they’ve by no means actually skilled what a real social community is,” she stated. “Each single platform since then has been social media, so Instagram, TikTok, for instance. We’re simply sat consuming. We’re scrolling. We’re hooked on our telephones.”

“We’re not truly socializing with anybody, and it is taking away that face-to-face interplay,” she added.

Cliq, she stated, is the center floor between the “good, social media really feel,” and making it simple to fulfill folks.

“That is why we wished to create a hybrid mannequin of: you join with folks on-line earlier than you join offline,” she stated.

She identified that social occasions can usually be tough for extra introverted personalities and it may be awkward to strike up a dialog with a random particular person when you don’t have anything in frequent. With Cliq, the exercise is the frequent curiosity, she added.

“So that you go to a run membership as a social, possibly you are actually shy and you do not need to open up, however you can discuss concerning the run. You go to a ebook membership. Possibly I do not need to talk about myself, however you discuss concerning the ebook,” Gunby stated.

“For those who’ve bought that frequent curiosity with somebody, otherwise you’ve accomplished that exercise, or it is the neighborhood’s focus round one thing, you could have one thing to open with.”