Vamos, an app which aggregates events so you can find something cool to do while you’re on the go, has continued its rapid rise to prominence by launching globally in the App Store. The Berlin-based startup only really started working on the product in February.
The platform aims to pull together events from every possible source – starting initially with Facebook – and you can see what’s on now, what’s hot and what your friends are attending.
The app is clean and easy to use, and provides a list of all public Facebook events close to you which are happening now as well as later. There is also a function to see which of your FB friends are going to what.
Co-founders Luis-Daniel Alegria and David Prentell came up with the idea when they were struggling to find a cool place to go to in Amsterdam. They have since been joined in the founding team by Erik Collinder and Jens Dressler.
Luis told Silicon Allee: “It’s a great relief (to launch). The process with the app submission has been a little bit up and down, but finally it is in the App Store, so every day from now on will be super exciting to see what happens. The product is great, we believe in it and hopefully people that use it will see the great potential and value that it brings from day one.”
Real Potential
With Eric based in London and David in Oslo, Vamos describes itself as the first startup created entirely through Skype. It also benefitted from a highly successful hackathon in February for which the founders invited friends from as far away as the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Poland to make their way to Berlin. “They all stayed in my apartment, which was a total mess but it was extremely funny,” Luis told Silicon Allee recently. “But just seeing their dedication to helping out, when people believe in something so much that they are prepared to fly to another city at their own cost; I think that for me was the first time that I saw the real potential in this.”
The beta testing was highly successful, with 120 beta testers and around 700 people on the waiting list, something which was “quite phenomenal without a website in the beginning; pure interest,” Luis added. The co-founders were even inspired to name their company Vamos & Friends UG in recognition of the support they had received.
To mark the launch of the product, Vamos will have a special integration with the TOABerlin festival next week, featuring all the satellite events – including Silicon Allee’s summer party on the Friday.
Luis said that the Vamos team will now look to ramp up the product following the initial launch. Ultimately, the business model will depend on the app’s ability to drive significant amounts of foot traffic to featured events.
A screenshot of the Vamos app