Five years ago, when Miles “Deuce” McBride moved to New York as a 20-year-old rookie playing for the Knicks, he found the transition to a big city overwhelming and struggled to find the right crowd.
“When I got up here, everybody on my team was married with kids or just kind of loners,” he told TechCrunch, reflecting on his initial feelings of loneliness being the youngest player on the team. “I wish there was a way to meet people organically who have the same interests. I feel like with social media, everybody is so superficial.”
Recognizing a common pain point for many in their twenties, McBride teamed up with veteran startup founder Joe Einhorn to create Mmotion, an app that combines elements of location tracking with social discovery features to help people find new friends based on shared interests while also recommending nearby bars, restaurants, and other social hotspots.
Now available in beta for users in NYC, the app diverges from traditional friendship platforms like Bumble BFF, instead competing more directly with apps like Snap Map and Find My. Instagram also recently entered the space with a new Map feature. (Mmotion’s beta will be limited to 1,000 members.)
Mmotion leverages geofencing and state tracking to follow users’ movements, highlighting people with similar interests in the vicinity. It also keeps track of where users go to recommend similar, worthwhile locations to explore. Plus, users get a private log of all their location history, acting like a personal timeline so they can easily look back on all the spots they’ve explored.
To access Mmotion, users must apply for a membership. Once accepted, they can enter their interests, join “Circles” or groups they’re interested in (such as those focused on hiking, attending basketball games, or visiting art galleries), and send friend requests to others nearby. The app also offers private messaging between users.
To prioritize user safety, the app features encrypted location data that is only accessible to the user unless they choose to share it. Users are incognito by default, which Mmotion refers to as “Vault Mode,” and can be switched at any time.
Additionally, if users prefer that only certain individuals on the app know their location, Mmotion offers a feature called “Personas.” This feature allows users to create up to three separate groups, enabling them to share more private locations like their home address with a select group of people while maintaining a more public persona.
“So Miles might have [his “Deuce” Persona], which is something where it’s a bit more curated, because he’s a public figure. So it’s for all the Knicks fans to see Miles go to places he’s okay with mainstream people knowing. And then he might have a [Persona], for when he goes to a different city, and he wants to be really low-key,” Einhorn explained.
Standard safety and moderation tools like blocking and reporting are also implemented.
The app will operate on a monthly subscription model for users. While the exact pricing details weren’t disclosed, Einhorn hinted that it will be affordable, stating, “It’s not going to be more than a cup of coffee per month. It’s not going to be anything crazy.”
Premium options offering additional features may also be available. For example, the basic tier only lets users join five Circles per city at a time.
Another aspect of the app is its offering for local businesses. By featuring restaurants, bars, coffee shops, fitness studios, and more on the map, Mmotion aims to promote small businesses while also providing them with insights into their customer base. The app aggregates data from various sources, including Google, OpenStreetMap, and Apple Maps.
Mmotion’s long-term vision is to encourage businesses to sign up for a subscription service that provides access to anonymized analytics. This service would help businesses effectively target the right customers.
In addition to subscription fees, the app will generate revenue through ads.
The launch marks McBride’s first time as a startup founder, positioning him alongside other athletes who have transitioned to entrepreneurship. Einhorn, meanwhile, is known as the founder and CEO of Fancy, a social e-commerce platform that competed with Pinterest. He also launched a luxury goods startup last year called Long Story Short.
Mmotion plans for a wider launch in the near future when there’s enough feedback from testers. It’s currently available to download on iOS and Android devices.