Princeton-Founded 'Friendsy' App Looking to Recapture Facebook's Early Magic

With 25,000 users and $200,000 in funding, the social network is now rolling out to all campuses nationwide.

learn more about Geoff Weiss

By Geoff Weiss

Friendsy via Facebook | Enhanced by Entrepreneur
Friendsy mobile app

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Friendsy, a Princeton University-founded social network that is looking to recapture the early magic of Facebook, has announced its national rollout after cultivating 25,000 users and raising $200,000 in funding.

The app is the brainchild of Princeton seniors Michael Pinsky and Vaidhy Murti, and is only available to verified college students with email addresses ending in ".edu.' Pinsky and Vaidhy Murti created the company in 2013 because they felt as if competitors like Facebook, Tinder and Yik Tak failed to help students branch out of their social circles, according to the company.

"We're trying to do to Tinder what Facebook did to Myspace," Murti said in a statement. "Make it exclusive and clean."

Related: Google Reorganizes Google+ Social Network

As the community grew, Pinsky and Murti developed iOS and Android apps for Friendsy, which started out as a website. They also launched a campus representative program in order to evangelize the product at other schools, according to USA Today.

Heretofore available on 40 campuses, Friendsy is now live at 1,600 colleges nationwide. Users can chat anonymously, compliment one another and make mutual matches -- both platonic and romantic. There are three possible kinds of requests -- friendship, hook up or date -- and the site has resulted in 200,000 such matches thus far, Pinsky says.

Additionally, Friendsy features a murmur feed, where users can post anonymous compliments or campus gossip, according to USA Today. However, this content is closely monitored by Friendsy in order to help prevent abuse.

Related: Where Famous Tech Founders Went to College (Infographic)

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

Related Topics

Editor's Pick

Everyone Wants to Get Close to Their Favorite Artist. Here's the Technology Making It a Reality — But Better.
The Highest-Paid, Highest-Profile People in Every Field Know This Communication Strategy
After Early Rejection From Publishers, This Author Self-Published Her Book and Sold More Than 500,000 Copies. Here's How She Did It.
Having Trouble Speaking Up in Meetings? Try This Strategy.
He Names Brands for Amazon, Meta and Forever 21, and Says This Is the Big Blank Space in the Naming Game
Business News

American Airlines Sued After Teen Dies of Heart Attack Onboard Flight to Miami

Kevin Greenridge was traveling from Honduras to Miami on June 4, 2022, on AA Flight 614 when he went into cardiac arrest and became unconscious mid-flight.

Leadership

How to Detect a Liar in Seconds Using Nonverbal Communication

There are many ways to understand if someone is not honest with you. The following signs do not even require words and are all nonverbal queues.

Business News

Pet Owners Slammed By Inflation Even As Fed Tries To Fight It

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday in an effort to fight inflation.

Marketing

Entice Customers to Make Additional and Larger Purchases Using These Two Tactics

With transparency, permission, and an eye on the customer's perception of value, you can knock both cross-selling and upselling out of the park.

Business News

Influencer's Team Speaks Out After Being Slammed For Selling Instagram DMs for $10,000: 'False and Inaccurate'

Emma Chamberlain's merchandise website went viral after one fan noticed a particularly pricey offering.