GirlCrew launches app as co-founder heads for San Francisco

Co-founded by Irish trio Elva Carri, Pamela Newenham and Aine Mulloy, the Enterprise Ireland-supported GirlCrew currently has more than 100,000 members across 46 cities worldwide including Dublin, London, New York, Toronto, Edinburgh and Melbourne.

"Real friendships and connections happen in person," said GirlCrew co-founder Pamela Newenham. "Most things in life are moving in one direction - online - and the same can be said for making new friends. We're following in the footsteps of dating apps. However, like dating apps, you need to meet people in real life."

Read more: How a simple idea to help build your 'Girl Crew' has turned into a global phenomenon

Newenham, a former financial journalist, is moving to San Francisco next month to expand GirlCrew's footprint in the US.

GirlCrew provides a platform for women of all ages to meet socially. GirlCrewPro helps women and aspiring entrepreneurs advance their careers and business networks.

To date, GirlCrew has operated through a free app for some cities and closed Facebook groups for others. It plans to expand its platform through a dedicated app that will be launched as part of a pop-up festival in Dublin later this week. The app will initially host Irish cities, with international destinations to be added shortly.

The pop-up shop in Temple Bar will host 19 events over four days. These events include GirlCrew Pro (a careers event), an entrepreneurs supper, a freelancers lunch, a business lunch and tech talks (an event for women engineers, programmers and coders). "A pop-up venue is the perfect way to mark the announcement of the GirlCrew app," said Newenham.

The social startup has won a series of awards and recently represented the EU at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.