The matchmaking app for mates, not dates
Upcoming Foura Group Pty Ltd
Do you want to be my friend?
Sounds awkward doesn’t it?
It’s perfectly normal for kids to ask that but there’s something uncomfortable about hearing it from a grown up.
The truth is, making friends as an adult is really hard. It’s awkward, embarrassing, and time consuming, and even when you're ready to put yourself out there, where would you go?
Foura is the answer to that question. Globally.
We’ve helped more than 6,500 people meet for friendship. We’ve been talked about on TV, the radio and local and national newspapers, expanded to more cities and built a waitlist of people across Australia who want to use the service.
In short - we’ve proven that Foura works!
Studies suggest the problem of loneliness is even bigger abroad and we estimate there are more than 200 million potential users in the US, UK and Australia alone.
That's where you come in.
We need investment in order to take things to the next level and scale the business to new heights.
So if you’re looking for investments that will generate returns while making the world a better place, then we hope to welcome you on board as a shareholder and a friend of Foura
1 in 3 Australians suffer from loneliness
According to recent research on loneliness, more than 6 million people feel isolated, disconnected and believe they have nobody they can turn to.
The statistics show that younger generations suffer more than older ones so unless something changes, this problem will grow and continue for many years to come.
The effect loneliness has on mental health is staggering, with studies showing that lonely people are 4.6 times more likely to have depression and 4.1 times more likely to have social anxiety!
But studies also find that social disconnection can have an impact on our physical health too. Strong social ties are proven to increase your odds of survival by 50% - that’s on par with quitting smoking or twice as good as regular exercise!
With the rise of dating apps and online dating, there has been a greater focus on romantic connection recently, but 23% of people living with a partner experience loneliness, so do these apps really solve the problem?
We think society’s obsession with romantic partnerships has done more harm than good when it comes to mental health. There should be a better way for people to get the connection that they need.
Users love Foura
Foura has acquired nearly 9,000 members since its inception and has helped more than 6,500 people make new friends.
97% of people who meet a pod sign up to meet a second. So far, 48% of them have attended at least two pods and some power users have attended more than 20!
Of the users who have signed up, only 1,600 were acquired through paid marketing channels! That’s given us a cost per acquisition of less than $1 per user.
The large majority have come through recommendations or word of mouth. Some of these are direct member to member referrals but it’s also common to see Foura mentioned on Reddit or Facebook posts where people asked how and where to meet people in Sydney or Melbourne.
We’ve also appeared on ABC Radio (twice), Channel 7, and in newspapers (including Sydney Morning Herald and The Age). These features have come about by journalists contacting us rather than any concerted effort to attract the media.
We believe the ease of acquiring users is proof that we are meeting a market need - there is a desire for our service, all we need to do is nail the execution.
An even bigger opportunity overseas
Although Sydney is one of the hardest cities to make new friends, and Australia has a high rate of loneliness, it’s not a localised problem.
Statistics from before the pandemic in the US indicate as much as 61% of US residents suffer from loneliness. In fact, the Surgeon General has described loneliness as an epidemic and a public health crisis.
While we believe that Foura can help turn the tide on loneliness, there are other ways to measure the size of the market that we appeal to.
From the 9,000 members we’ve acquired so far, we’ve identified four key target groups.
- Expats/transients who haven’t had a lifetime of building a social circle in a new city
- Young socials whose friends are settling down, but they still want to go out
- Divorcees who have lost half their social circle following a breakup
- Empty Nesters who find themselves with time to spare now their kids moved out
These four groups make up nearly 200 million people across Australia, The US, and The UK.
If we’re able to capture just 20% of this audience we estimate that we could generate $200M a year, and that’s just from 3 countries!
Providing value to hospitality businesses
Foura is essentially a lead generation platform for hospitality venues and activity/experience providers to receive extra bookings.
We keep our app free for users by charging commission to these partners.
For standard bookings (no upfront cost to the user), our bars pay us $5 for each attendee.
But our goal is not to help people meet, it’s to help them become friends and so we have a range of options for pods that choose to meet a second (or third, or fourth) time through the app.
For these options, our user pre-pay for the experience up front and we charge a 15% commission to our partner venue. Below are examples of when this may be charged.
- When a user pre-books 2 games of bowling
- When a user pre-pays for a set meal at a partner restaurant
- When a user pre-pays for a “burger + beer” at a partner pub
Given that the hospitality industry has struggled to recover from COVID lockdowns, our lead generation provides a welcome boost to their booking figures and their bottom line.
A hyper-personalised version of Meetup
So, how does Foura work? Our process is simple and our platform is easy to use.
Step 1 - Sign up
Once you download our app, you select your hobbies, interests, experiences and values from over 170 different options.
Step 2 - Choose your podmates
Our proprietary algorithm then matches you into pods of 4. We consider the popularity of each of the selected criteria to determine who we believe would make a good match, but at the end of the day our members get to decide who they want to meet.
Step 3 - Pick a time and place to meet
The key benefit of Foura is that our members don’t waste time chatting in the app. Once you’ve agreed to meet, you simply select the dates and times that you’re available and then pick from a list of partner venues as a place to meet face-to-face.
Bringing people together in groups of four eliminates the awkwardness of two adults trying to become friends. It feels like four mates catching up over a beer/coffee.
There’s also no option to chat beforehand so it’s less of a drain on your time. Once members match, they use the app to choose where and when to meet, then turn up and have a good time!
Check out the impact we're having
The Team
Tam Al-Saad
Director & Founder
Natalie Turner
Director
Nelson Feng
Full Stack Developer
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