Sometimes serendipity can lead to interesting people. For the rest, there is Levo.
At least, that is what two Bengaluru-based entrepreneurs in their twenties, Rahul Maheshwari and Tarun Lala, are trying to do. Their app helps air travellers to connect and build relationships resulting in business deals or even long lasting friendships.
Launched in January this year, Levo (from Levitate) is an app which helps its members to meet offline, especially air travellers who can meet at airport lounges or during a flight and interact with like-minded co-travellers. Maheshwari who earlier worked with the global consultancy firm, KPMG, points out that in the new age economy and digital world, people are connected only in the virtual world with offline conversations taking a back seat.
"Through this app, we are trying to get people back to the real world and interact face to face." He throws in a few statistics to back his claim that offline activities are much more beneficial and invigorating for the human mind.
For example, when tired, engaging with another human being can improve one's mental health by 67 per cent.
During his frequent business trips, Maheshwari realised that few people interact in the airports, choosing instead to read books or get busy with their mobile phones. This is when he and his friend, both classmates at school, hit upon the idea of developing an app that will help travellers break the ice. The app itself is very easy to use. It takes just five steps to create a profile though one has to link it with either Facebook or Linkedin. The app, however, does not ask for details about gender or age as, the founders believe, this can categorise people into slots and reduce chances of meeting.
Once the profile is completed, members have to enter their flight details including the date and time of travel. Levo will then start sending profiles of passengers who are planning to take their flights around the same time. The member can then send connecting requests for a meeting, and if accepted they can then meet at a designated Levo Lounge at the respective airports. As of now, Bengaluru airport has one such lounge. In case the passengers log in only after reaching the airports, they can walk into the lounge after the check-in indicating that they are willing to interact with the others.
"In some sense, we are helping create a curated community of entrepreneurs, a confluence of people," says Tarun Lala who apart from being an electrical engineer from a US university, is a certified entrepreneur from Stanford University. The lounge has attracted the likes of Infosys co-founder, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and actor Naseeruddin Shah.
Just as Humphrey Bogart tells Claude Rains as both of them walk into the mist in the all-time classic Casablanca , "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Levo app wants to do just that.