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FAST CITY, SD (AP) – What could be scarier than the horrors of Halloween? For many people trying to find love on a dating app.
Computer science students from South Dakota Mines developed Lafdr, a new dating app that matches people based on their meme tastes. After testing a prototype, the app for IOS and Android was launched last month.
morgan vagts and Debbie LikenesBoth graduating from Mines in May, she channeled her frustrations with existing dating apps by creating their own apps. Lafdr’s algorithm created by Liknes connects like-minded users through the memes they enjoy on the app.
“Memes are a great conversation starter” vagts said. “It keeps the conversation light and allows people to be themselves. … If you can laugh at a meme together, you know you have something in common.”
vagts Lafdr said it’s designed to help people find friendships or romantic connections, or that users can browse memes on Lafdr. vagts and are similar spent two years developing the app. It is aimed at college-age students but could potentially appeal to those aged 18 to 35.
“We were sitting in Debbie’s living room talking about the dangers of online dating and he joked about the idea of a meme-based app. And I thought, ‘Yeah. That’s great, let’s do it’ and it evolved from there” vagts said.
More than 90% of current college students have used a dating app. vagts As Rapid City Journal reports, there are over a million memes shared every day on platforms like Instagram.
“There are loads of dating apps out there. They’re all the same idea of swiping someone’s profile, and they’re primarily based on looks. Usually you have to do an extra click (to get to their bio),” vagts said. “It was interesting to learn that we were the first to try something really new, to take the idea of what a dating app is and change it further.”
“When you’re on Lafdr, you don’t have to think about all the people who don’t like you and just have dry chats. It’s a more fun and open atmosphere than most dating apps out there,” she said.
The first day Lafdr was officially launched, vagts He said it doubled the number of users who tried the prototype. A few weeks later, the Lafdr team introduced the app with an Instagram campaign, doubling the number of users again. They are planning future campaigns to attract more users.
are similarCurrently based in Minneapolis, he works on the app full time and watches every game the app makes.
“We love to see what you do. It’s like a quality control measure” vagts said. “We had our first relationship match a few weeks after we started. It was really exciting. … We had our second relationship match two days later.”
“We think there is a real market for this app” he said. “Millennials brought online dating; Gen Z brought the memes to the meet. ”
vagts He said Lafdr’s support from South Dakota Mines made it possible to build and launch the app.
“Mines helped us create a business plan and compete in competitions and find funding to buy an Apple computer (which was required to build the app).” vagts said. “The school was able to pay for a lot of the things we needed for prototyping.”
“Mines helped us pay for a provisional patent on our technology and gave us prototype money to help improve our app. They also provided us with funds to succeed in the Governor’s Giant Vision Challenge.” vagts said.
vagts Special thanks to Joseph Wright, vice president of Economic Development, South Dakota Mines, who served as the main business advisor for the Lafdr team. vagts said he and are similar The app entered several competitions and lost many times.
“It was very discouraging. We continued to stand up against the best in the best competitions with crazy biotech products that save lives.” vagts said. “It was discouraging to stand up to people saving lives. Joseph’s comment was, ‘All these other companies are saving lives and you guys are making life worth saving.’”
Finally in April, the Lafdr team placed fourth in the South Dakota Governor’s Giant Vision student business plan competition. vagts, Liknes and its developers – Keegan Burnett, 2020 Mining graduate, and Dalton Baker, graduating in 2022 – have dedicated 12-hour days to prepare Lafdr for its September launch.
vagts living now Fast City and additionally B9 Creations works for digital production technology him He starred in Lafdr. HEHe has developed close relationships with many of the South Dakota Mines who continue to offer assistance with the app.
The Lafdr team hopes to pitch to angel investors in the next few months.
“We know that only a small percentage of venture capital investments go to women-led businesses. We hope to break this trend with Lafdr.” vagts said.
“We thank these computer science students for using the skills they gained at Mines to start their own companies. We are always proud when students use their education to change the world. We encourage exactly this type of innovation and entrepreneurship in the mines,” said Jim Rankin, Head of Mines.
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