Hollywood social app aims to spark real-life connections
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Bente wants to get people out and about and mingling. Photos: Courtesy of Bente
A Hollywood tech company wants to get people to stop swiping on their phones and start making connections at local spots around town.
Why it matters: Out of more than 8,250 entries, Flovara is one of five finalists nationwide in this year's AT&T Small Business Contest, with a chance to win $50,000.
- The other four finalists each take home $5,000.
The big picture: Its flagship product, Bente, partners with bars, restaurants and other venues to bring in more foot traffic and create a space for people to meet each other.
- Eduardo Flores, Flovara CEO and founder, tells Axios he was inspired to create the app after seeing local businesses struggling and people feeling disconnected during the pandemic.
- "I wanted to create a solution that helps essentially people whoever they're looking for, for whatever reason and able to meet them in real time," he adds.
- Participating businesses can use the platform as an all-in-one dashboard to manage operations.
How it works: You check in at a "Bente Hotspot" and choose whether you're looking for a romantic partner, new friends or professional connections.
- Once you check in, the app initiates the what it calls an icebreaker. It finds the most compatible people in the room, sends them your profile and asks if you would like to meet them.
- If you both accept, the app leads you to where that person is inside the venue.
- "The whole point is to actually meet in person," Flores says. "When you're matching with people, you're not even messaging them. You're physically walking up to them and starting a conversation."
By the numbers: Since launching in March 2025, the platform has more than 5,000 users nationwide and Flores hopes to become a staple in Broward County, especially Hollywood, given the recent business turnover.
- "The feedback has been really good," he tells Axios.
What's next: Flores says the $50,000 would help scale operations and hopefully create local tech jobs in Hollywood.
- "Hollywood is my home," he adds. "I love Hollywood. Fort Lauderdale is nice, Miami, West Palm Beach, all those places are nice, but there's something about Hollywood that just makes it truly unique."
- The winner will be announced next month.