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Can Luluvise challenge the macho might of Facebook?
Alexandra Chong's $1m start-up aims to give women a place online where they can gossip in peace
A SOCIAL network which aims to give women the chance to better recreate online the experience of gossiping and sharing information with their close female friends is set for a $1m start-up this week, according to City AM.
Canadian entrepreneur Alexandra Chong, with backing from Brent Hoberman - Matha Lane Fox’s partner in one of the internet's earliest dotcom success stories, Lastminute.com - will launch Luluvise from offices in Clerkenwell, east London. The site promises 'Girl time all the time' for today's busy young women.
Luluvise sprang out of the 30-year-old Chong's frustration at attempting to share a Valentine's Day story two years ago with her girlfriends. She didn't feel comfortable about posting it to her Facebook page and considered her options.
"Three telephone calls, seven text messages and two Skype calls later, she wondered, 'Why can’t I tell this story to all of my friends at once?'", VentureBeat reports.
Chong, who improbably enough was once a member of Jamaica's Olympic tennis team, has developed the idea since then, and after quitting her job in 2010 has now managed to gain the funding from Hoberman, Bebo founder Michael Birch and other investors. She’s also managed to get Prime Minister David Cameron to visit the Luluvise offices (see above).
She is aiming to build on the general disenfranchisement that women feel about the social media platforms currently available. Despite Facebook having more female than male traffic, it is still a network designed by geeky men, and as such doesn't tap into what women want to do and say online.
Luluvise will be aimed at 18-35-year-old women, who will be able to create an 'inner circle' on the network where they will be able to securely share information with their closest friends. They will also be able to rate male Facebook users through the Wikidate scoop feature.
It's not yet apparent how the site plans to make money, although sponsorship, group buying and special offers have been bandied around as possible revenue streams. ·
