A Milwaukee startup is making it easier to connect with friends during the COVID recovery.
bLinkup is a social app that uses geolocation to notify users when friends are nearby and displays crowdsourced data at top rated locations.
The app recently added a new feature called the COVID scale which allows users to score their comfort levels with local businesses’ adherence to social distancing recommendations, masking requirements, and capacity restrictions, as well as other health and safety related measures.
“There’s a real demand for in-person connection,” said bLinkup founder and CEO, Will Bott. “One of the major things holding people back from meeting is a lack of information about where to go. There are other platforms that provide information that the restaurant gives, but no platform provides information that users give. We want to change that because it's important for people to be able to see crowdsourced data about places as they start to go out again.”
The COVID scale is similar to an Uber five-star rating, Bott added.
An avid rower and coach, Bott launched bLinkup in 2018 after he attended the World Rowing Championships in Florida. While at the event, he kept running into friends in the rowing community but says there wasn’t an easy way to discover which acquaintances were in the area to meet up with them after the games. Other proximity apps, like FindMyFriends and SnapMap, felt too invasive, he said.
Following his trip and a few changes in direction, which included Bott trying to teach himself code and an unsuccessful — and costly — attempt with oversea developers — he settled on something of an in-between: An app that would allow users to connect with friends nearby and meet up in real time, without ever sharing a users’ exact location.
Once a user signs up for bLinkup, they can invite and add their friends to the platform. Bott explains connections mutually agree on a “discovery distance” and receive notifications when they appear in each other’s radius, anywhere from one tenth of a mile to over 100 miles.
A user can then invite their friends to join them at an event or location, which appear as “bLinkpoints” on the platform map and can include a pin drop at area restaurants, coffee shops or bars.
“It’s faster than texting,” Bott says. “More than other location maps, it’s really focused on getting people face to face.”
Bott originally planned to launch bLinkup during Summerfest and the Democratic National Convention but the pandemic halted the company’s plans. It was a hard hit, especially on the heels of successfully raising more than $200,000 in seed funding, he added.
“[That summer] Milwaukee was going to be awesome,” Bott said. “When COVID hit, things just started shutting down. But COVID in some ways allowed us to reimagine how to grow. We took advantage of that.”
While Bott sees future potential in using the bLinkup app at business conferences, sporting events, concerts or while traveling abroad, the startup is focused on attracting college students who can promote its proximity platform among peers and on social media.
bLinkup has launched a college ambassador program at a handful of colleges including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the University of California - Berkley, in San Francisco.
Following the pandemic, the company hopes to monetize the platform by leveraging relationships with local businesses and plans to launch a second round of funding, later this year. During its initial round, more than 90 percent of investors were Milwaukee-based, Bott added.
“One thing I’ve been proud of is that this is really a Milwaukee thing,” said Bott. “We’re hoping to change the way people interact with each other, by making it easier and faster — more ‘in the moment.’ If we can do that, I think people will love it.”
The bLinkup app is available in the Apple app store.
