STRV2 min

Lavendr becomes own company

ProductJul 13, 2015

Product

/

Jul 13, 2015

Product

STRV

2 min read

STRVSTRV

Share this article

Lavendr is flying solo.

STRV's gay dating app has grown exponentially on the U.S. market over the last several months and is now working to expand its European user base. It seems only logical that it spin off on its own.

“We want to make Lavendr the leading gay dating app on the global market,” says Martin Stava, who will be leaving his position as STRV's chief technology officer to head Lavendr's expansion efforts full-time. “We currently have around 100,000 monthly active users and plan to hit the 1 million mark by next year, which I think is realistic. Our product is essentially the gay version of Tinder.”

In addition to the swipe feature, which allows users to choose who they like by swiping to the left or right, the Lavendr team has also integrated Instagram access and a private photo option.

“The feedback has been tremendous,” says Martin. “We are currently No. 1 in gay app searches on the App Store and Google Play.”


Martin Stava at STRV Developer Meetup

Thanks to leveraging social media, Lavendr has made a lot of headway since launching just over a year and a half ago. “It's all about targeting,” says Martin. “We saw that there was clear opportunity and need to create a modern gay dating app.”

Martin estimates that there are around 2,000 new users signing up every day, with the Android version of the app in particular gaining a lot of traction in recent weeks. “We don't want to run ad campaigns in the U.S. anymore, because we don't need to. We already have a strong presence there,” says Martin. Instead, the team will turn its attention to the U.K., Spain and France, as well as reinforce Lavendr's position on the Russian market, where it initially launched.

Martin will be joined by STRV's long-time Android engineer Radek Sevcik, who originally came up with the concept. Berenika Alexandre, meanwhile, will oversee Lavendr's growth from San Francisco.

Lavendr is the second STRV-developed app to branch out on its own in less than a year. The first, Ordr, is thriving on the Prague market. It is the city's go-to food delivery service.

Share this article



Sign up to our newsletter

Monthly updates, real stuff, our views. No BS.