Fiz, the UK startup behind the “social discovery” app for iOS and Android that helps you find places based on things to do, has closed a seed round totalling £200,000 (~$305k) to further develop its platform and build its community.
The funding comes from the company’s two co-founders — husband and wife team David and Sarah Hughes — a well as former Expedia VP of emerging markets Murad Hajeebhoy, and an unnamed “high net worth individual” who is said to have a background in the travel industry.
Hajeebhoy, who along with Expedia was previously e-commerce consultant at Thomas Cook, is also joining Fiz as Director responsible for developing strategic partnerships.
Fiz’s service is targeted at anyone planning their leisure time — from a day out to a full holiday itinerary – by consolidating the information they need in a single app. It pulls in data from various online sources, as well its own user-generated database, to provide access to maps, directions, telephone numbers, reviews, photos, weather forecasts, tweets, UK traffic updates and other place-related information.
However, the emphasis isn’t on just showing highly rated places — though it does pull in tips from Foursquare and supports checking in to said service. Users can browse by leisure categories: Fun & Leisure, Nature & Outdoors, Food & Drink, Faith & Spirit, Health & Wellbeing, Sport & Fitness, Art & Culture. The idea is enable you to find and peruse places based on what they are good for. To support this mission, users can add places to the app’s database, rate existing places, and upload photos etc. They can also bookmark their favourite places and add personal notes.
Finally, Fiz contributors earn karma points for every action they take in the app, such as rating a location. The startup says that these points will eventually be converted into real-world rewards for the top contributors.
The app is free, and I’m told that future revenue models could include content syndication and affiliate marketing, as well as partner tools e.g. white labelling. Fiz’s competitors include a whole host of location-aware, social leisure/travel apps. The likes of Gogobot spring to mind, or something like Minube, though there are hundreds of these things.