Jagat, a social network designed to get you to do more with your friends instead of aimlessly scrolling on your phone, has surpassed 10 million users worldwide. The location-based social network, which launched earlier this year in March, wants to help people focus on real connections and making friends.
The app, available on both iOS and Android, is essentially a social map of friends and activities near you. Jagat has an interactive map interface that lets you track your friends in real time and discover new people and activities around you. Jagat is somewhat similar to Snap-owned Zenly, a social mapping app that shut down last year.
The startup is based in Singapore and Indonesia and was founded by Jagat Chairman Barry Beagen and CEO Loy Xing Zhe. The pair met in December 2021 when Beagen was advising the Indonesian government on policies related to the digital economy and Zhe was working on a GameFi product focused on web3, social networks and gaming. Beagen says he and Zhe both had the idea of creating a social network.
“We had the same vision to take big tech and really create something from Southeast Asia that could take on the world,” Beagen told TechCrunch. “We’re also tired of mainstream social apps becoming more passive, and we were both really excited about exploring the world and places and finding spontaneous ways to meet new friends — whether it’s hiking, a local concert, a choice – to a basketball game or just for a long walk.”
The couple decided to create a social network where users would be able to create their own spaces and interact virtually with their avatars.
Your social map is what you see when you open Jagat, as it’s where you see your friends’ locations in real time. It’s also where you log the places you’ve been and where you can tap your friends’ avatars and send them a message, stickers or updates. Jagat sees the map as the main interface to discover activities and people around you. You can see your friends’ status updates in real time to find out what they’re up to.
Image Credits: Jagat
The startup is currently building a feature that aims to take on Facebook Groups by allowing users to organize local events and find people with similar interests. It also creates a feature that allows you to explore beyond your local community, allowing you to discover global communities.
“We want to bring social media back to social apps — focusing on social media, not media,” Beagen said. “We want to deal with people, not publications. We’re built for your close friends, for you to discover new friends and get people out more in real life, as opposed to scrolling for entertainment. We are excited that other new emerging social apps are also taking up this challenge. Mainstream social media is no longer for making friends or connecting, but mostly for passive entertainment consumption. So we’re focusing on features that allow users to share non-glossy real-time updates in a fun way.”
Beagen says most active users check the app about three to four times a day, and most people want to know where their close friends and loved ones are once they’re done with school or work. Instead of having to text a friend to see if they’re around and want to have dinner, the app lets you see where they are.
About 85% of Jagat’s users are part of Gen Z. Since its launch, the app has topped the charts in Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Spain, France and Singapore. Beagen says the app’s appeal has been universal and the startup will continue to build for the next generation.
The startup closed a Series A funding round in October from investors in Southeast Asia, but declined to disclose the amount of funding raised.
Looking ahead, the startup wants to create “the default app for the next generation,” Beagen said. “We believe social networking apps need to deliver on their promise to make real genuine connections and get people connected in real life. In the meantime, we’re focused on creating exciting new features and continuing to build our community. We also believe that what we’re building, augmenting social experiences on a map, can power a new generation of creators and businesses worldwide.”
