Executive Summary

Many university students—about 200 million globally—struggle to discover nearby classmates for spontaneous lunch, study sessions, or hangouts, which undermines belonging and wellbeing for freshmen, commuters, and international students. Campus life is fragmented across generic social apps and bulletin boards, so casual, contextual meetups are still awkward to coordinate. You could build a campus-native, opt-in proximity map that shows verified students’ ephemeral availability (lunch, study, hangouts) within a limited radius, with interest tags, time slots, strict privacy controls (anonymous presence, automatic expiry) and integrations with campus events and services. Monetization would be a mix of freemium upgrades, university partnerships and sponsored campus features, targeting roughly $6 ARPU that underpins a $1.2B global market. The timing is attractive because micro-local social features and privacy-first presence models are regaining interest, and universities are increasingly funding tools to improve student connectedness and mental health—Market Score 88/100 and Revenue Potential 82/100 reflect that opportunity. That said, adoption depends on achieving campus-level critical mass, earning trust with safety/moderation, and navigating a medium-competition landscape. The clearest competitive edge is a tightly campus-focused product that combines robust verification, ephemeral privacy, and institutional partnerships—if you can solve trust, safety, and the chicken‑egg onboarding problem, this idea is worth pursuing.

Market Opportunity

Campus map to meet nearby students for lunch, study, or hangouts targets a $1.2B = 200M global university students × $6 ARPU annually total addressable market with medium saturation and a year-over-year growth rate of 8% YoY — local and micro-social discovery features have been growing as students seek campus-specific social tools (Statista/Pew aggregate of social app usage trends, 2024).

Key trends driving demand: Micro-local social features are regaining interest as users want more contextual, real-world interactions rather than broad feeds — this creates demand for campus-native discovery.; Privacy-first and ephemeral presence models are more acceptable now, which reduces resistance to location-based social features and enables opt-in proximity tools.; Universities and student services are increasingly focused on mental health and social integration, creating partnership opportunities for tools that improve student connectedness.; Mobile-first onboarding and single sign-on via university credentials lowers friction for verifying student identity and reducing spam..

Key competitors include Bumble BFF, Meetup, Spotted / Campus-specific apps.

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Campus map to meet nearby students for lunch, study, or hangouts

Executive Summary

Market Validation

Market Opportunity

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