The unexpected and sudden arrival of the pandemic caused a shift in the plans to launch Go, a new social app designed to get users interacting and socializing in real life. Originally slated for Portland, Oregon the co-founders Sean Conrad and Jesse Berns pivoted to Auckland, New Zealand, one of the few communities and economies remaining open during 2020.
Built on revealing research that 91% of people wish to spend more time offline with family and friends, but lack the social tools to do so, Go readily filled this void in social networking. Auckland was to serve as a limited test market, but instead the app quickly became the second most-downloaded social app in the entire country in just a few months.
With this unanticipated rapid success abroad, Go now plans to expand into three major US metropolitan areas with the help of a just completed Series A funding round. This follows $6.7M in timely seed funding led by CAV angels that fueled Go’s expansion in Auckland in February, 2021 that led to Sydney, Australia in April. All happening because of Go’s proprietary data science and machine learning that facilitates real-world experiences with friends.
The founders are now casting their eyes to the U.S. after 1500 unique events and thousands of in-person meet-ups in just 5 months in Auckland. On the business side, the success of marketing to people who are actively searching for services led to over 500 Auckland businesses signing up for Go’s Early Adopters Program. This portends well for Go in the U.S. market.
“After being stuck inside due to the pandemic for over a year, people have a strong desire for real-life social experiences, and a rare openness to new ways of making plans and being together as restrictions begin to ease,” explains Conrad. “We have been able to help shape the wave of re-socialization New Zealand, and expect it to be even more pronounced in countries such as the United States where Covid-19 has been less contained.”
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