An app that helps women find like-minded friends, events and groups based on their lifestyles and interests, is launching in the UK.
Founded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2015 by Ulrika Lilja (CEO) and Claudia Gård (COO), gofrendly makes it easier for women to form genuine connections and develop long-lasting friendships. The app, which is free to join, utilises AI technology to allow its users to find compatible matches and build platonic relationships that are likely to work.
gofrendly was created when co-founders Ulrika and Claudia met on a Facebook-arranged ‘friendship date’. Having returned to Sweden from living in the US, Ulrika had been finding it difficult to meet others. The two bonded over their shared frustration, and the idea for gofrendly was born. Since launching, gofrendly has onboarded almost 250,000 Nordic-based female users, including 65% of all 20-35 year old women in Stockholm, who are using the app to forge meaningful friendships and arrange meet-ups. To date, the app has generated nearly 11 million direct messages, 4,600 coffee dates, 2,537 friend groups, and 70 trips away, and has onboarded users as young as 18 and as old as 86.
The app is free to download and use, with a £3.99 per month gopremium option providing access to additional privacy and discovery features, such as the ability to see who has visited your profile, and to hide yourself from main feeds.
gofrendly leverages AI technology to provide users with personalised matches based on shared interests and motivations for joining the app. These range from moving to a new city, wanting to find fellow female entrepreneurs, becoming a new mother, to finding people to try out hobbies or sports with.
The app also has functions that allows users to host and join events and groups, enabling them to further expand their friendship circle with like-minded individuals.
The demand for apps like gofrendly is high amongst women in the UK, who may struggle to find friendship and communities due to various practical and emotional hurdles. A recent YouGov survey found that 52% of women in the UK find it difficult to make new friends, and only 15% of people in London had made a new friend within the last five years.
Whilst women are finding it more difficult to befriend one another, the benefits of female friendship still remain important. A study by global information analytics company Elsevier found that women involved in female-based friendships release calming hormones that help to negate the impacts of stress, and a UCLA report found that women are inclined to befriend one another in times of trouble and distress.
Ulrika Lilja, Co-founder and CEO of gofrendly, said: “We are beyond excited to be bringing gofrendly to the UK, and uniting women with a shared drive to make new connections, experiences, and memories with one another. We allow women to focus on the joy of making new friends, rather than the effort of finding them, and are delighted that gofrendly will now allow women in the UK to benefit from the invaluable enrichment that comes with female friendship. The UK, with its vibrant cities like London and Manchester, is fantastic place for exploring and expanding social circles, and gofrendly will help women to connect and reap these benefits together.”
