South African startup Clik has launched a mobile app which allows users to organise and find events, and meet like-minded people with a user-friendly user interface.
The hope for Clik, which launched to the public earlier this year, was to create a mobile app to disrupt the digital social network and events markets by cutting out middlemen, promoting transparency, and allowing participants to own their social transactions.
In future, it also has aspirations to launch payment facilitation solutions around events through the Clik app.
The idea for Clik came about when co-founder Kevin Ssemwogerere was on a trip to Los Angeles in late 2017, and observed how people typically used several platforms to find a party to go to and find people to meet once there.
“In between all of that they would also use other platforms like Uber and on-demand beverage apps to complement their experience. The inconvenience of jumping between multiple digital and non-digital platforms to achieve the simple goal of going out to an event and meeting people sparked the idea of a complete and universal ecosystem platform,” Ssemwogerere said.
In early 2018, Ssemwogerere returned to South Africa and teamed up with Kabelo Twala to build the Clik app. With no external funding, the startup has marketed through physical promotion and social media campaigns, which have allowed it to gain an exponentially growing user base.
“User retention rates are currently at impressive highs given the bootstrapped user conversion for adoption and signups. Very positive feedback about the app has been gathered through various means, including in-built feedback mechanisms through the app,” Ssemwogerere said.
“The majority of users have commented on the uniqueness of the app and how they will keep using the app. Event promoters and event hosts users have specifically asked for additional features like in-app sales and consumer brands have made enquiries for advertising space given the regular eye traffic that the app attracts.”
Ssemwogerere believes Clik is unique due to the fact that it addresses the digital social network and events markets simultaneously, benefitting the end-user.
“Clik has no direct competitor which has a full offering which is similar or comparable to Clik’s,” he said. “Clik is also best positioned to use artificial intelligence to deliver the best experience to the user through various mechanisms in the app.”
Clik is currently available on Android and iOS. While physical promotions have been focused on South Africa so far, the startup does have expansion plans that include marketing efforts in US cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
The initial revenue model of Clik includes advertising fees from consumer brands.
“The platform is free for the end-user and all features are unlimited. The app is attracting a critical mass of user sign ups and retention which is attracting interest of consumer brands to purchase in-app advertising space,” Ssemwogerere said.
