With the nature of the global workforce rapidly shifting from full-time corporate work towards freelancing and project-work, a new mobile app, Kalido developed in South Africa – has been launched, intending to provide those working in this changing environment with the tools that they need to survive and thrive.
Kalido functions as an ecosystem that enables talented professionals and clients to connect with each other by matching users according to their goals (who they want to meet, and what kinds of services they can provide), as well as social and geographic proximity.
In doing so, Kalido provides the real-world trust factor, which is often missing in random connections.
“Finding the kind of clients you want as an independent contractor is hard. Finding skilled workers and service providers also consumes time and social capital for everyone. By letting you instantly tap the networks of everyone you know in a personalized way, Kalido makes the whole process incredibly simple and quick, and does so in a way that respects the privacy of all parties involved,” says Kalido COO and co-founder, Ashvin Sologar.
“Unlike existing work and search platforms, we also don’t charge users a cent for posting or engaging with their matches.”
Kalido was largely developed in South Africa over almost two years by a team of world-class software engineers and designers with extensive experience in mobile app design and machine learning.
“Kalido is built using some of the most cutting edge techniques available today, and we are constantly exploring new technologies to improve it without sacrificing scalability or stability,” adds Ashvin Sologar.
The team’s business experience, meanwhile, comes from prominent global companies including Alibaba and management consultancy, McKinsey & Company.
Kalido lets you identify the type of services or individuals you would like to meet by setting a “goal”, expressed in the form “I want to meet…” [a wedding photographer, a running partner, etc.] or “I can provide…” [tax advice, architectural blueprints, etc.] The app then intelligently searches for a match, sending a push notification when a relevant user is found, and continues searching for additional matches until the user removes the goal in question.
Starting a conversation is easy, with Kalido’s one tap introduction requests, simple chats with shared contacts to get referrals, ice-breakers to help you start conversations, and push notifications that let you know when a match is found.
To ensure that users make the right matches, Kalido uses natural language processing which matches the meaning of a user’s search (ontological and semantic matching), rather than the exact words typed (syntactic matching).
How secure is Kalido? All user-supplied information is secured on the user’s device and on the app’s servers with AES-256 and SHA2; while in transit with SSL and on a call with SRTP. All server-side data is also encrypted.
Users also have the option to choose what, and with whom, information is shared, and can easily report inappropriate content or block unwanted contacts.
After its local launch, Kalido will rollout worldwide, starting with an August launch in India, followed by Australia later in 2016. Kalido has also partnered with an American university, and has already raised substantial seed capital to support its ambitious growth plans.
“Through Kalido, we want to build the first truly trusted global platform for individuals to connect and exchange services in the real world, empowering freelancers everywhere and awakening the entrepreneur in all of us,” adds Kalido co-founder, Sanjay Varma.
Kalido is now available publicly on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
