Stream now has over 100 employees around the globe, but we started small, with co-founders Thierry Schellenbach and Tommaso Barbugli cranking code in cafes. Stream couldn’t have become the multinational company it is today without the guidance of dedicated mentors, seed investors, and the many generous third-party tech providers who made free versions of their software available for budding entrepreneurs.
The Maker Account is Stream’s way of giving back to early-stage tech innovators. Since its launch in March 2021, we’ve been inspired and impressed by the hundreds of diverse founders, coders, students, and startups using Stream’s activity feed and chat APIs to connect their users and build niche communities. (Entrepreneurs qualify for the Maker Account if their company has less than five team members, has raised less than $100K in funding, and has less than $100K in annual revenue or $10K MRR.)
“Stream’s Maker Account is helping us bring a seamless experience faster than we could have imagined,” says Prady Moduluru, co-founder of the Seattle-based startup Oneself, a social wellness platform that empowers users to have authentic conversations with others. “With extensible and robust chat features out of the box, we’ve accelerated our product development roadmap by months.”
Here are a few notable projects highlighting how creators around the world are leveraging Stream’s Maker Account to get their ideas off the ground.
1. Artsflow
Artsflow makes it easier for artists to showcase, book, and deliver their work to generate income. From scheduling a painting class to attending a performance, the Stream Chat API is helping Artsflow build a marketplace for creatives and increase awareness of local arts activity.
2. CraveHalal
CraveHalal is a popular app that helps Muslims find verified halal food options in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. The app uses the Stream Chat API to advance CraveHalal from a directory into a community of halal foodies in major cities. The idea is for users to post in chat channels to share local restaurant recommendations, discuss top dishes, upload photos of recent meals, and bolster local halal food scenes.
3. Discourse
For a hackathon event, five recent graduates of a coding bootcamp used the Stream Chat API to build a communication app that encouraged people from different backgrounds and political beliefs to have an open and civil discourse. We love supporting school or university projects!
4. FineSwap
The Oslo, Norway-based app FineSwap enables the age-old practice of bartering for items ranging from clothing to jewelry to bikes. FineSwap is dedicated to disrupting wasteful modern consumption habits and replacing them with the concept of swapping, using, and swapping again to minimize users’ reliance on buying new items.
5. Fish Rules
Fish Rules is a nuanced app that helps saltwater and freshwater fishing enthusiasts understand and adhere to complex U.S. fishing regulations (which vary by season, location, and species), and to identify their catch. What’s cool: Fish Rules partners with several non-profits for an opt-in citizen science component, which allows app users to log their fish’s weight and length, alert scientists of unusual migration patterns, and more.
6. Foodnest
Stockholm-based Foodnest is an app for food lovers and home cooks to get inspired by what their friends are cooking, find and save new recipes, and create grocery lists. Foodnest also weighs the environmental impact of each recipe and gently nudges users to make more sustainable ingredient choices.
7. Kindship
It can be a lonely experience to parent a child with special needs. Kindship is on a mission to build a global community that celebrates, supports, and empowers parents as they navigate their family’s needs. Kindship is a safe, private, alternative-to-Facebook social network that provides a platform for users to meet, chat, and learn with parents of children with similar diagnoses. Features include both private messages and group chats.
8. Myfive
Myfive is an app developed in collaboration with the Walter Robert Corti Foundation, a nonprofit that provides services for war-affected people. Myfive helps refugees in Switzerland integrate into their new community by connecting with locals. Refugees can chat with at least five people nearby who share similar interests to make the experience of relocating to a new country less isolating.
9. Oneself
Dedicated to removing mental health hurdles, Oneself is a platform that connects users with fellow empathetic individuals to share authentic conversations. Founded by a former Microsoft product manager, Oneself is using the Stream Chat API to power in-app messaging and provide more equitable access to mental wellness solutions.
10. Podacity
The app for sharing and finding your next audio obsession, Podacity is a social space for users to discover their favorite podcasts. Podacity also encourages podcast enthusiasts to have honest conversations on the platform about various topics and participate in respectful disagreement.
11. Poem
Current social media platforms such as Instagram aren’t optimized for sharing poetry or written text. Poem is a new social network that helps poets, musicians, writers, and rappers share their work and connect with other artists around the world.
12. Roks
The Sydney, Australia-based Roks App helps rock climbers discover new gyms and crags, track climbing routes, and connect with other climbers via chat. The Roks App also shows users a detailed analysis of their climbing achievements so they can monitor their progress and share favorite climbs with friends.
13. Tourlina
The Munich-based Tourlina is the first female-only platform that connects solo women travelers with each other. Described as a “female travel buddy app,” Tourlina prioritizes safe communication and platonic travel companions. The app verifies users before they can access the chat functionality, and travelers are connected based on mutual interests, destination, and travel duration. Tourlina is using Stream’s APIs for the app’s chat, push messaging, and activity feed features, and founder Michael Klumpp says Tourlina’s developers found it easy to integrate the APIs into their platform.
14. Unavine
There are many dating app options available, and nearly all of them have a profile feature for users to upload photos of themselves. Unavine is a dating app where profiles are strictly videos. In addition to providing a more authentic dating experience that mimics in-person interactions, Unavine’s video-only approach means no fake profiles. This unique dating app also features video calls, 1:1 relationship coaching, and a dating advice content library similar to Netflix.
15. ZOOTZOOT
ZOOTZOOT is the first food and grocery delivery app in Kabul, Afghanistan. A small, self-funded startup, ZOOTZOOT supports over 35 restaurants, and even includes delivery from pharmacies, handicrafts, and bookstores.
Interested in applying for a Stream Maker Account? See if your project or company qualifies.