Drupe, a people-centric Android app raises $1 million in funding

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We live in a world today where phones are built around apps and unfortunately not around people. When a device’s sole purpose is built around to communicate with other folks, why do I still have to close Twitter and go into my contacts screen to pull up a friend’s phone number?

This is exactly the problem that Drupe is looking to solve. Drupe is an Android app that lets users interact with your favorite contacts across any app on your smartphone.

Here’s how it works:

The app essentially lives on right hand side of your phone’s screen, indicated by four hovering dots. When the dots are clicked, a list of your favorite and most recently contacted people will appear on the left hand side of the screen. From there, you can simply ‘drag and drop,’ or how the company likes to call it, ‘drag and drupe’ the desired person to the app you want to use.

For example, if I wanted to contact my mom on Facebook as opposed to a normal text message, all I would have to do is swipe her lovely face over to the Facebook icon, and immediately type up my message, or in her case, emoji.

Check out their demo video here for a possibly better explanation:

The app launched today in the Google Play Store with $1 million seed funding in hand. “The funds, raised from TMT Investments in London, Curious Minds and a group of Israeli Angel-investors led by Yigal Jacoby, will be directed towards the app’s launch efforts and expanding drupe’s feature-set” the company said in a release.

“This kind of people-centric activity is what makes drupe truly unique,” says Barak Witkowski, drupe co-founder and CEO. “Let’s remember that today, each app has its own way and UI for launching an interaction, and drupe brings ease and consistency to the experience. No matter which app you want to use, just swipe a contact, and you’re done. Everyone becomes just one swipe away. While we do see some high-end devices trying to bring your contacts to the front, the user-experience they offer is very limited. drupe’s vision is about letting users interact with the people in their lives, leaving the app-mess behind them.”

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.