🐶 Your lil angel deserves a robot

Hey, wanna be pals? That’s the premise of Bumble for Friends, a new app now available for iOS and Android in select countries and rolling out to others soon.

“Wait,” you’re saying. Didn’t Bumble already have a friend thing? Yes.

Bumble’s app has modes for dating, friendship, and networking, but users had to toggle between them. Bumble for Friends is a stand-alone platform where users can swipe on potential platonic friends.

And unlike BFF, it also allows users to start group chats to plan activities for multiple matches — escape room followed by brunch, anyone?

People are lonely

Per a Harvard University study on loneliness, 36% of Americans feel “serious loneliness,” a number that increases among young adults ages 18-25 (61%) and mothers with young children (51%). Why?

• Gen Z missed out on a lot of in-person socialization thanks to the pandemic, attending high school, college, and more over Zoom.
• They also work more and make less, making it harder to socialize.
• Remote work has led to a dip in work friendships.
• People are also moving away from meeting spaces like organized religion and recreational sports, per The Washington Post.

This is all on top of pre-pandemic friendship hurdles, including big life changes like moving to a new city or becoming a parent.

But stigmas are changing

If it feels weird to find friends online, remember that it used to feel weird to find dates online.

As the wariness around meeting people virtually first diminishes, more people are forming communities with Discord, Reddit, Meetup, and more.

• Per a Bumble for Friends survey, 67% of Gen Z respondents shared that making new friends online lessens loneliness.
• 57% of teens say they’ve met a friend online, typically via social media or gaming.

Now to the real hard part: Getting people you met online to show up IRL.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. More tech at the grocery store is fine, but let’s make sure it actually solves the industry’s most urgent problem: the smell at the seafood counter.

Unfortunately for us, it appears America’s food retailers have other (much better) ideas.

AI-ron chefs

The industry spent 1.3% of its total sales, or $13B+, on technology investments in 2022, per Grocery Dive.

The numbers come from The Food Industry Association’s 74th annual report, which we’re gonna guess looks quite a lot different than its 4th — and probably even its 64th:

• A quarter of food retailers and over one-third of suppliers are now using AI to track and predict consumer interests and spending.
• Last year, 85% of retailers were trying new tech to improve customer experiences, up from 2021’s 73%, and 83% say they’ll increase their tech spending this year.

Where’s that money going?

Innovation in brick-and-mortar food retail has generally been hot — outside of grocery shopping with VR goggles, which thankfully has not.

• We’ve previously written about Instacart’s smart Caper Carts and e-ink price tags.
• Last fall, startup Swiftly raised $100m to grow its app-building service for groceries.
• Just last week, Amazon said it plans to bring palm scanning to all Whole Foods stores, which we will: a) definitely try out, and b) nervously laugh every time we do.

Are you even a remote worker if there’s not at least one pet making itself known in every Zoom meeting?

But what if all that barking, pawing, and tail wagging isn’t just for attention? Our four-legged friends might be asking to borrow our tech.

Per The Wall Street Journal, pets want in on the newest tech trends, and their owners are ready to spend some serious cash to make their furry dreams come true:

• Automatic litter boxes appeal to owners and cats who want to stay clean (and who have an extra $500-$700 lying around).
• Robots can help pet parents keep a watchful eye, sling treats, and play fetch.
• Smart collars use GPS to track pets and can monitor their health and habits.
• DNA tests made specifically for cats or dogs provide info on ancestry and disease risk.

There are even doggy treadmills to help your pup with his summer body and fur vacuums for home grooming.

Not so far-fetched

Like our own tech bells and whistles, these ones also don’t come cheap — the smart canine treadmill, for example, starts at ~$800 — but that hasn’t stopped these products from entering the mainstream.

A 2022 study shows that 83% of North American and European pet owners own at least one pet tech device.

Plus, a handful of external factors are fueling demand:

• The pandemic led to a steep increase in pet ownership.
• More people think of their pets as family than ever before.
• AI advancements are driving innovation in the pet tech industry.

Just don’t go too crazy with the tech, or your poodle will be leading that touch-base with your boss before you know it.