2024 College graduate Louis Chung recently visited campus to table for Quickmeets, a dating app he founded after leaving Penn that matches users based on images of an ideal match that the user can upload onto the platform.
Chung was motivated to found the app because of his belief that loneliness is an underrated issue that often does not get discussed enough due to stigmas. He also aimed to address the issue of unvetted people making accounts on dating apps, as several other platforms allow users to sign in with random emails or upload random photos.
“Entrepreneurship is a cool way to have a real impact,” Chung told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
On Quickmeets, users get matched “based on visuals," which allows users to express their ideal type using an image. The app can be used to find both platonic or non-platonic matches, with some users even uploading photos of themselves to find potential friends similar to themselves or celebrity crushes to find potential romantic matches.
Quickmeets, which now has several thousand downloads, is currently available at Penn, Drexel University, Temple University, Villanova University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Texas A&M University. By having pilot tests at several different universities, Chung hopes to better gauge reactions from a variety of students from different geographic areas.
Chung used AI to make his app a more accurate matchmaker as he felt that traditional apps use generic features to match users.
“We want to be as accurate as a real human matchmaker or a friend,” Chung told the DP. “We are experiencing 3 to 4 times higher retention metrics than traditional dating apps.”
Chung—who studied economics, statistics, and data science and was part of the Wharton Venture Lab’s 2022 VIP-X accelerator—has previous experience with startups. In 2022, Chung cofounded Kfans, an app that is aimed at connecting fans of Korean pop culture and allowing users to have more intimate interactions by creating a space for one-on-one conversations.
“Other apps claim that they can help you make new friends, but that’s just not the case,” Chung said to the DP in 2022. “In a general feed of thousands or even millions of people, you really can’t have meaningful conversations.”
Penn has recently also made advancements in opportunities related to AI for its students. A few months ago, 1988 Wharton graduate Mark Pincus donated $5 million to Wharton Generative AI Labs, allowing for the launch of the Pincus Artificial Intelligence Lab for Organizational Innovation. The lab is aimed at furthering “the application of AI as a tool for organizational innovation.”
Last week, the University launched PennAI.
In the future, Chung hopes to add personality preferences, expanding on how users can discover potential matches.
“[We hope to] become the future of social discovery,” Chung said. “If you have a certain type, you can find that person.”
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