AI-powered messaging app, Daze, has garnered positive response as masses of the zoomer generation showed support towards its development.
The app which is designed for Gen Z, created waves even before its official launch with a viral presence on TikTok, where its most popular video has garnered over 8 million views.
Report has it that the app has reached a total of 48 million combined views across TikTok and Instagram.
The app’s prelaunch success is evident as its waitlist boasts about 156,000 eager sign-ups.
Rather than relying on influencers or paid advertising, Daze’s buzz is driven by product demo videos that have captivated younger audiences.
These demos show off the app’s unique features, which offer a fresh take on messaging.
The founder, Willem Simons, in an interview with newsmen said:
“Our goal with Daze has been to make a feature-complete messenger that is competitive with iMessage, WhatsApp, etc., while still having a suite of really fun and creative features,”
“It is easy to use and utilitarian, but also very free and unconstrained,” Simons explained.
He added that he designed Daze to appeal to Gen Z users by merging messaging with social media-inspired creativity.
In Daze, users can send messages that float across the screen in multi-colored bubbles, decorated with stickers, GIFs, graphics, and even drawings.
The app allows users to personalize chats much like crafting an Instagram story, making the experience both dynamic and freeform.
Daze also incorporates artificial intelligence to enhance some of its creative tools, with plans to introduce even more AI-driven features in future updates.
The app’s development has been crafted entirely in React Native, enabling simultaneous launches on both iOS and Android platforms.
Simons disclosed that its official launch is scheduled for November 4, but early testing with 1,400 invite-only beta users has shown promising results.
According to a source familiar with the beta testing, the app’s 60-day retention rate for users who have sent a message stands at more than 50%.
Simons said he experimented with this concept before as he co-founded Muze, an app with a similar free-form messaging approach, but Daze represents a more refined version of his vision.
While Muze was a collaborative effort, Daze is entirely Simons’ project, marking a new chapter for the entrepreneur.
The app has already raised $5.7 million in funding from notable investors, including a16z, Kindred Ventures, Alpaca Ventures, and 35 Ventures, among others.
Who is Willem Simons?
Willem Simons is a notable young innovator who is not just a technologist but also a creative entrepreneur.
His technology has shown his passion to enhance the way people communicate as he before Daze co-founded Muze, an app centered on free-form and multimedia messaging, designed to inspire more creativity in communication.
Simons studied economics and philosophy at the University of Delaware, and his work has been recognized, including being named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2022.
After studying at the University of Delaware, he shifted his focus to reimagining the digital communication landscape.
His vision is to challenge the boundaries of traditional messaging by offering platforms that encourage creativity, starting with his co-founding of Muze, an app designed to expand the way people express themselves through multimedia content.
