There are certainly a wide range of mobile apps to pick from for those looking to form new relationships online: Tinder, Whisper, Coffee Meets Bagel, Grindr. The list goes on and on.
While Anomo certainly fits into the same category, the app separates itself with a platform that uses anonymous profiles and icebreaker questions to help people meet one another.
Seattle-based Anomo today announced an $800,000 funding round led by Orca Bay Capital, with participation from Maveron and angel investors like Kiss.com founder Lee Zehrer and Symantec CTO Amit Mital.
The eight-person startup, founded by former Microsoftie Benjamin Liu and Pirq CEO James Sun in 2012, allows people to start with anonymous profiles and slowly reveal more personal information over time, depending on how well they’re getting along with another user.
Anomo uses an intelligent system that classifies users into subgroups based on icebreaker questions like, “Are you a Republican or Democrat?” Then, the app’s measures each user’s chat compatibility and matches people based on an algorithm.
From that point, people can slowly give out more personal information over time while chatting or playing games. Anomo differs from apps like Tinder, which reveal names, interests, and photos immediately before any conversation has started.
“No other social app or network has this process that allows people to start anonymous with common interests and then provides a structured process to reveal personal information with only who they want,” said Sun, who was a finalist on Donald Trump’s The Apprentice back in 2006.
Anomo also as a news feed where users can post pictures and status updates. I just installed the app and the first post on my activity feed was someone who wrote this:
“Hey Anomo! In a little under two hours I will be at the airport waiting for this guy I fell in love with over half a year ago to get off a plane. We are about to meet for the first time. Ever. Wish us both luck. And yes. We met on Anomo :)”
The company has more than 300,000 monthly active users spending an average of 37 minutes per day with the app, and more than two-thirds of users are women.
“Women feel safer by keeping their identity and privacy in their complete control,” Sun explained. “Teen and college girls especially want to keep their personally identifiable information to themselves until they feel comfortable with someone else.”
Anomo has raised $1.4 million to date. The fresh funds will be used to hire engineers and establish marketing partnerships.
