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2022 Grants Challenge

Dating with no profiles and no swipes

Idea by Noveil

Noveil is the first video based dating platform designed for Generation Z. The goal of Noveil is to bring people together in an effort to fight mental illnesses like depression, and lower the rates of sexual assault, self harm, and suicide. We also want to make online dating safer for women. With your help LA2050, we will implement our go to market strategy and bring our users love, happiness and relationships. On top of this mission, as young black men and women from LA , it's important to show our youth that anything is possible.

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What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?

Community Safety

In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

County of Los Angeles

Other:: Predominantly South LA

In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?

More than any generation before, Generation Z is dealing with a mental health epidemic. 50% of all Gen Zers have reported some form of depression, with loneliness being the leading cause. This is the case despite all of the online dating apps/ friend app on the market, so we know the current dating options are not working for Generation Z. The dating industry is currently plagued with the following issues. Fake profiles ( catfishing ), superficial dating practices, and a lack of focus on women's safety. Only 17% of daters have ended up in an actual relationship after matching online, which is why Gen Z is still the loneliest generation of all time. In addition to that, the large tech boom that's taking over California doesn't seem to include African Americans. Only 5% of all tech employees are black, in contrast over 30% of all LA County Jail inmates are black. We are determined to change this statistic and give black youth another option, similar to Vector90.

Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.

Noveil is a video first dating app that eliminates the possibility of fake profiles, puts personality first, and gives women the opportunity to use their intuition when determining if this is a good match. Here's how it works. Users sign up, they are asked a few questions about preferences, and then they are presented with one option, start dating. From here, our back end algorithm uses machine learning to find them a match. Once that match is found, the two are immediately placed in a 3 min video call and provided two icebreakers to stimulate the conversation. After the time is up they are asked if they like each other. If so, it's a match and they can message each other and meet in person. Our main goal is to bring angelenos together in a fun and safe way. We have validated this concept with real users and they enjoy the experience. In our initial test run alone, there were 7 successful in person dates, and this was a test run of only 20 people. By paving the way, we will be able to then reach back and help others from our area succeed in entrepreneurship.

Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.

Imagine an LA where inner city youth are more interested in computers than guns. While I was growing up in LA ,this was not the case. In 2017, at the start of my college education, I was arrested for a crime I did not commit. I spent 1 year in LA county jail before being exonerated, all due to the perception society has of me. However now, when they see me, with my Computer Science degree and my laptop, things are very different. More people need to see stories like this, because only then will they believe it's possible to achieve that same accomplishment As a product, Noveil will change lives. We estimate our solution will cure depression for many and lower reported mental health issues by at least 50%. In the short term, we want to help generation Z LA youth easily find a relationship, but in the long term we are looking to change dating culture as a whole within our community. Each successful match on Noveil will get people off their devices and connecting in person.

What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?

We currently have a working product, an MVP ( No-veil.com ), and we have hundreds of users already (500+). We tested this concept using zoom to simulate the process with over 200 LA college students and got a 94% satisfaction rate. We also recently won the New Venture Competition placing #1 out of 200 teams. Our go to market strategy is mainly social media and our engagement is growing at a rate of 400% each month! So what does this mean, that we have validated our solution to this problem, people love our product, and they are already familiar with our brand. There are 700+ people on the waitlist for our final product. Joining the ranks of LA2050 is imperative to our growth. To succeed we require resources and a solid network in LA, beyond our current situation. Our goal by the end of the grant period is to average 20,000 matches a day and reach over 1 million users. In short, we will measure it by successful matches, lowered reports or depression, and monthly active users.

Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?

Direct Impact: 373,362

Indirect Impact: 746,724