In a frantic rush to fund a snuggle buddy for Valentine's Day? You might be in luck via a new Cincinnati-based app.
The recent release of
UCrush, a new dating app created by
Xavier University alum and
HCDC resident Anthony Breen, means that college students can now find that guy or girl they couldn't stop staring at in Astronomy class.
UCrush is a geolocation-based app whose database is limited to those who attend the same school or are currently located in the same geographic area. The app is designed for those who see an intriguing person and immediately want to know how to get in touch with him or her. It's kind of like Craiglist's Missed Connections but better — not to mention safer.
All information is kept confidential until a connection is made. Even then, the users can communicate through the app — sending messages, pictures — and no identifying information needs to be shared.
The app finds people using an identification system that asks the "crusher" to list gender, hair color and clothing style as well as a description of the encounter. The app identifies the location of the user immediately, which helps identify where the sighting may have taken place.
UCrush CEO Anthony Breen is a Boston native and a 2014 Xavier grad. Breen came to Cincinnati for college in the hopes of gaining corporate experience before jumping into the startup world. Fortunately for him, he caught the entrepreneurship bug a little early.
The company was born during a brainstorming session with his buddies from back home, Kyle Garvan and Danny O'Connell. Last winter break, Garvan and O'Connell pitched him the idea of a dating website that allows the user to connect with crushes. They looked to Breen to take it one step further.
The three were looking for an alternative to the bar hookup scene on college campuses, wanting to create a platform that helps crushes break the ice.
"UCrush is here to say that we are giving you the opportunity to be heard, noticed and found," Breen says. "We want to try and take the awkwardness out of that first hello."
Unlike Tinder, UCrush requires an actual connection of some sort. Instead of randomly swiping through photos, users will undoubtedly share something in common with the person crushing on them, whether it's the same school, the same workout class or the same sporting event.
The app also allows users to rate the "genuineness" level of other users. That rating appears on each user's profile along with photos of the user's "life crushes," which could be anything from a Starbucks latte to a view of
Great American Ball Park.
"This is not an app for one-night stands," Breen says. "This is for people who are moving toward a date."
Though Breen recognizes the potential for abuse, so far the app has been successful. Since its launch in mid-January, UCrush boasts a 90 percent success rate with a 2 percent abuse rate among its 15,000 users. Right now, the app is in active use at Ohio State, University of Cincinnati and Xavier. The UCrush team has plans to expand to over 150 campuses nationwide in the next three months.
UCrush is currently headquartered at HCDC's incubator in Norwood.
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