THE ESSENCE OF THE PROJECT
A few years ago, mental health apps really took off. But the cause of many emotional problems is the feeling of loneliness. Recent studies have revealed a surprising fact — young people aged 19-29 suffer from loneliness the most! Therefore, one can also make a significant impact — if you replicate the idea of this app designed to combat loneliness among young people.
Today’s startup was founded by the former CEO of the popular dating app Tinder, who left her position last summer. The startup hasn’t released its app yet, but it raised its first $1.1 million in investments in the spring, and now another $3.9 million in a round led by the well-known venture fund Sequoia Capital.
Meeno is an app that acts as a mentor, helping users build personal relationships with other people.
A mentor isn’t just a friend with whom you can share problems, who will empathize and comfort you. The founder compares Meeno to Remy the rat from Disney’s “Ratatouille”, who controlled the movements of the main character, a chef who couldn’t cook, by hiding in his chef’s hat.
The app can help initiate new relationships, sustain existing ones, and repair broken ones. It’s not just about romantic relationships but also about ordinary acquaintances and friendships that arise from common interests or personal affection.
On the other side of the app, there aren’t professional psychologists and relationship experts giving advice to users. Under the hood of the app is an AI engine, trained on a vast amount of material that these psychologists and experts have already generated and posted on the internet 😉
Although the app hasn’t been released yet, Meeno has recently started collecting pre-orders for the iPhone version of the app. Those who manage to pre-order by January 31, 2024, will be rewarded with a free subscription to the premium version of the app.
After this, the premium subscription will cost money — which will become Meeno’s source of revenue. How much exactly it will cost — the startup has not yet decided.
What’s Interesting
The US Surgeon General’s office in 2023 published a report titled “Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” characterizing the current situation in the field of human relationships among the country’s residents in this manner.
Loneliness is typically discussed in the context of the elderly, as the number of solitary living Americans over the age of 60 continues to rise inexorably.
From recent efforts to combat loneliness among the elderly, we can recall the startup Peppermint. It created an online club platform for people over 55 and raised $8 million in investments for it. Besides that, other initiatives working on this problem include:
GetSetUp — an educational platform for the elderly. They raised $21 million.
Rest Less— a British online community for people over 50. They raised 15.1 million pounds sterling in investments.
Hank — a community for people over 55, helping them meet both online and offline. They raised $8.3 million.
However, the problem is that the highest percentage of people currently feeling lonely are young individuals aged 28 to 29 years! A whole 24% of them, while only 13% among those over 65 feel the same way. It turns out that “living alone” and “feeling lonely” are different things 😉.
Analysis and Summary:
The issue of loneliness among young people has reached a critical point, as highlighted by a recent Insider article. To combat this, many are investing in memberships at fitness clubs or exclusive social venues like Soho House. These spaces offer an opportunity for casual, effortless social interactions.
However, club memberships are not cheap. From the provided Gallup statistic, it’s evident that the feeling of loneliness is most acute among young individuals from low-income families: 27% from households earning less than $24,000 annually feel lonely, compared to just 10% from households earning over $180,000.
This economic discrepancy pushes many to seek more affordable solutions to combat loneliness than pricy club memberships.
Meeno, a budding app, conducted its independent study on a potential target audience. Their findings revealed that 31% of young people aged 19 to 29 expressed significant interest in using a personal relationship mentor. This percentage was much higher than in other age groups, with respective values being 31% vs. 13%, 15%, and 17%.
Considering the expected affordability of a Meeno annual subscription compared to club memberships, the app seems to align perfectly with young people’s desires for cheaper loneliness combatting solutions.
From various angles, Meeno taps into current trends: a) The loneliness epidemic b) The heightened feeling of loneliness among the youth c) The quest for cost-effective remedies to loneliness.
Moreover, Meeno’s founder has experience in the dating niche, typically oriented towards casual encounters. While sex is sometimes used as a temporary remedy for the broader issue of loneliness, it isn’t a genuine solution but rather a temporary fix.
Experts point to the internet and online interactions as significant factors contributing to the loneliness epidemic among the youth. While these online interactions simulate genuine communication, they don’t provide genuine satisfaction or reduce feelings of isolation. It’s akin to choosing casual sex over meaningful relationships.
Many experts suggest the solution lies in young people discarding their phones and seeking genuine face-to-face interactions, such as in parks. Yet, if we aim to address these habits, meeting them where they spend most of their time – on their phones – seems logical. Therefore, creating an app like Meeno, designed specifically to combat loneliness, is a wise strategy.
Where to run
Meeno’s approach fits well within the broader trend of creating specialized counterparts to AI models like ChatGPT, which are better tailored to solving specific types of problems. While ChatGPT can answer questions related to establishing, maintaining, and repairing relationships, a dedicated application trained on specialized datasets can provide more precise answers. Additionally, having a specific focus on solving particular issues can instill greater trust among people who experience those problems, as it aligns with their psychology.
In general, the direction of creating specialized AI tools for specific types of tasks and issues remains the same. It’s currently an opportune time to venture into this field before all the potential niches are saturated.
One of the potential avenues to explore, as exemplified by Meeno, is addressing the issue of loneliness. Loneliness has indeed become a significant problem for both young and elderly individuals, and they are willing to pay for effective solutions.
About Meeno:
- Website: meeno.com
- Latest Funding Round: $3.9 million on September 26, 2023
- Total Funding: $5 million across 2 rounds