There’s an abundance of dating apps on the market, but there aren’t many apps that aim to keep the spark alive after you enter a relationship. Enter Sparks, an app catering to existing couples looking to introduce new and fun experiences to their lives.
The Barcelona-based startup, which exhibited as part of the Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt, debuted as an MVP in May 2021 and officially launched this week.
The startup was founded by CEO Ankit Nayal, who came up with the idea for Sparks after reflecting on his relationship with his partner. He found that he and his partner were often too busy to find things to do together, and that it was impossible to find a new activity that they were both interested in. Drawing on this experience, Nayal decided to create an app focused on helping couples enhance their relationships by finding new experiences, whether it’s choosing a new movie, recipe, game, restaurant or vacation.
“There are so many apps to help you find a partner,” Nayal told TechCrunch. “But once you find a partner, you leave those apps and there’s nothing left to help you in your relationship. That’s where I noticed a gap and wondered why we don’t have a tool focused on improving relationships.”
Some may wonder why they need an app to help them make decisions with their partner. To that, Nayal says the app isn’t trying to replace communication between couples, it’s instead looking to get rid of the hassle of planning dates or discovering new experiences.
Sparks offers a curated selection of experiences and date ideas that you and your partner can parse through in a Tinder-like swipe interface. You can swipe through movie suggestions, new recipes, vacation ideas, etc. Once there’s a match, the app will let you know there’s something that both you and your partner are interested in doing.
The startup is looking to raise a pre-seed round in the first quarter of 2023 and plans to use the funding to add more features to the app, while also integrating a deeper personalized experience for couples.
In terms of the future, Nayal says he sees Sparks turning into a network of super-apps that are able to help couples in additional ways.
“Long term, we have bigger goals,” Nayal said. “Living in China and operating businesses there, we got well-versed with the ecosystem of super-apps and one company being the holder of multiple key apps. We want to bring the same, but to relationships. Ideally we see ourselves creating different faces of Sparks, such as Sparks: The Long Distance Relationship App, The Parents App, The Couples Finance App and so on.”
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