Hey! VINA, the female-focused friend finding app, has today announced the launch of an Android app.
The VINA app is almost identical to Tinder, except the end-result is to find women a new friend instead of a hot date.
That said, VINA only shows one photo of the user, and instead of relying fully on swipes, it uses a matching algorithm that takes into account mutual friends, location, interests, as well as information gained from BuzzFeed-style quizzes within the app.
VINA also has a media-driven approach to building communities, offering the VINAZINE. Headlines include “10 underrated Instagram accounts to follow right now,” “6 DIYs that will make you feel and look younger instantly,” and “3 reasons your potential bestie turned into a friendship one-night-stand.”
The company says that it saw 100,000 downloads in the first week it was available on iOS, back in the beginning of 2016, and has received feedback from more than 500,000 people asking for an Android app.
VINA has raised a seed round from Tinder, NEA, Greylock and Wildcat Ventures, but the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The app has matched more than 1 million people, and is now live in 158 countries.
“Our goal is to help people find sisterhood and connection and helping them go through life,” said founder and CEO Olivia June Poole. “We want people to see that they have allies and have backup when they share their stories, and a shared connection in their experiences.”
VINA for Android will launch with an account dashboard, letting users see their social stats, create a friend list, take quizzes, and manage their community memberships. The app will also feature group messaging.
The move to Android was a no-brainer, according to June, who says that more than half of the traffic to the Hey! VINA website was coming from Android phones.
[“Source-techcrunch”]
