MeetNow is a location-based matching app for finding nearby people and gathering on the spot. With around 96,000 monthly active members, over 300 “meetups” run simultaneously nationwide at any time.
Proximity matching, instant groups, real-time chat, safety and recurring revenue ─ a foundation that satisfies the four axes a connection platform needs, all at once, from scratch 8 months — an in-house-built new platform launch story.
Asobi Connect Co., Ltd. runs a location-based matching service themed around “meet right now.” Instead of planning days ahead, it turns sudden free time into local connections on the spot, proposing a new form of communication.
Members set up profiles with occupation, region, and interest tags, then connect with nearby people on the map. Starting from instant “meetups,” the platform creates connections between people across diverse scenes such as cafés, lunches, and food crawls.
None of these were merely tech-selection issues — they were business requirements tied directly to immediacy, experience design, safety, and profitability. Building anew from scratch demanded a design that “makes them all work at once.”
Without a way to instantly know who nearby is free right now, sudden free time can't be turned into connections, and the service's core value falls apart.
Expressing on-the-spot meetups with place, time, and capacity through existing SNS frameworks makes coordination cumbersome and raises the psychological barrier to joining.
If messages and notifications are delayed, the momentum of a match cools off and users tend to drop off before reaching an in-person plan.
Bolting on a safe-meeting mechanism and a sustainable revenue model after the fact would undermine experience consistency and hinder healthy growth.
Proximity matching, instant groups, real-time communication, safety and monetization ─ we built the four domains essential to connection in-house from scratch, together with Asobi Connect Co., Ltd. Demanding elements — location, real-time, and billing — are integrated into a single mobile platform.
EXECUTION
React Native
TypeScript
Redux / Saga
socket.io
Node.js
Express
TypeORM
MySQL
MongoDB
Redis
BullMQ
OneSignal
AWS S3
React
Ant Design
This foundation continuously delivers business outcomes — active rate, community vitality, integrity, and recurring revenue — rather than mere technical metrics.
Map-based proximity matching instantly surfaces “meet right now,” boosting active rate and retention.
Instant groups with approval flows maximize a space where anyone can safely host or join meetups.
Centralized management of reports, members, billing, and permissions keeps it safe while reducing moderation effort.
Subscriptions (IAP) enable recurring billing, with paid rate visible on the dashboard.