Launched in June 2020, ‘As You Are’ is among India’s only social applications for the LGBTQIA+ community. Created by Sunali Aggarwal, a UX designer, the app began as a matchmaking app exclusively built for the Indian LGBTQIA+ community. Although the platform began as a dating app, with 'Matchbox' being its prime feature, Sunali soon realised that the community needed an avenue for safe conversations and more than a space for swiping profiles.

 

Post that, the main focus was to provide the Indian LGBTQIA+ community a safe space to be themselves, whether they want to date to just make friends. This Pride Month, we spoke to Aggarwal to understand the inner workings of her queer social application, and how it helps members of the community to express freely, and find each other.

 

What was the major objective behind ‘As You Are’?

I am a serial entrepreneur, design practitioner and thinker who believes in design-led innovation which is customer centric. After the landmark 2018 judgement striking down Section 377, I heard from a few of my friends about the lack of safe online dating space for the Indian LGBTQIA+ community. These conversations prompted me to explore a space dedicated exclusively to the Indian queer community.

After being faced with some hesitation among Indian investors, ‘As You Are' sought investors overseas. We found our first-ever partner to raise investments via Owain Morgan. Coming from the private equity space, Morgan partnered with us and helped raise Angel money via compulsory convertible debentures, which is largely from queer couples and Indian-origin entrepreneurs in the US.

How is ‘As You Are’ different from other dating apps?

A key differentiator setting apart 'As You Are' is its manual verification of profiles, to ensure that all profiles on the app are genuine. Besides matchmaking, users can try new features like 'Group Chat' and 'WE, As You Are Community' to connect with other queer users.

We also don’t pressure people to post their photos because we understand queer people "in the closet" might not be comfortable with this aspect, and the manual verification process ensures there is a real person behind the profile, although there is no photo on the profile.

Along with the feedback from the users, the queer members on the team help to make the app an inclusive space for the Indian LGTBQIA+ community. Whether it’s the verification process or the options in the drop down, our efforts at ‘As You Are’ are focused on making the space safer and inclusive for the Indian queer community.