Winning the hearts and loyalty of Generation Z is an uphill battle. As the first digital native generation, these young people have grown up with an endless stream of apps—shopping, working, learning, dating and making friends online. Gen Z has made TikTok a dominant force in social media and are passionate about their interests, from K-pop to climate change.
Plenty of startups have tried to woo this demographic group, and many have failed. But a few select startups have found success in recent years by targeting areas that are of particular interest to Gen Z. Here’s a look at how some entrepreneurial companies have been successful in attracting Gen Z.
Margins
Founded late last year, Margins is a San Francisco-based company that is riding the BookTok wave. That substantial TikTok community lets Gen Z recommend, review and discuss books—and it’s driving sales for authors. Margins founders Paul Warren and Nick Punt saw quick success with their app, which helps BookTokers track what they’ve read and discover new books, adding a social element to a sometimes-solitary activity. Installs went from 400 to 60,000 in just 12 days. That number crossed 100,000 in April of this year.
Doji
Individual style is important to Gen Z, but putting a look together can be complicated. Founded in 2024 by Dorian Dargan and Jim Winkens, this NYC-based company blends fashion and tech, letting users create an avatar of themselves to virtually try on designer clothes. That lets younger users have access to styles they might not otherwise be able to test—and lets them experiment with different looks without fear of embarrassment. In May, Doji raised $14 million in seed money to expand the app and improve its AI models.
Elin.ai
Research by the Walton Family Foundation found that 42 percent of Gen Z struggles with depression and feelings of hopelessness. That’s part of the reason this generation has pushed to bring mental health to the foreground of the national healthcare conversation. Czech-based Elin.ai, founded in 2023 by Jan Romportl, Petr Stanislav, and Jiri Horacek, taps into that interest, using artificial intelligence to analyze screenshots and offer personalized advice to help users, helping them manage stress, anxiety and cyberbullying, among other challenges.
Swsh
Gen Z has been documenting its life in photos and videos for nearly two decades, so it’s no surprise, really, that photo-focused apps and companies resonate with those users. Swsh, founded in 2022 by Weilyn Chong, Nathan Ahn, and Alexandra Debow, is a New York-based photo sharing and social platform that is tailored to Gen Z interests. Users can filter out items from photos and use the app’s AI-driven facial recognition tool to search for photos of themselves. The company recently began offering the ability to password protect albums, so users can control who sees the shots.
Corner
Gen Z is a big proponent of shopping local, but they demand those stores have online shopping tools. (A 2023 survey found 73 percent of Gen-Zers and 75 percent of Millennials say they would be more inclined to browse and buy more often from small businesses that provide wider payment and delivery choices.) Corner, founded in 2022 by Eliza Wu and Jake Xia, helps them do that with a layer of social media on top. It’s a mapping application, where the point is to discover and explore local businesses based on social recommendations. Rather than scraping other sites, the app has built its map from the ground up—and in three years, its users have added more than 275,000 locations. There are no star ratings, and while there are the expected restaurants and retailers, you’ll also occasionally find a listing for a spot to watch the sunset. The app has over 55,000 users across 450 cities.
Beli
A social network for foodies, New York City-based Beli was founded in 2021 by Judy Thelen and Eliot Frost. Users rank restaurants and other food-focused places, marking their favorite dishes. The app offers a score for how the app’s users liked the restaurant as well as one for how the individual user’s friends on the app liked it. Profiles can be public or private and the app has evolved into a dating app of sorts, connecting people with similar food interests. Gen Z has enthusiastically embraced it (roughly 80 percent of the app’s users are under 35), thanks to the social elements and the chance to express themselves. Beli now boasts over 60 million reviews globally, topping Yelp.
Chris Morris
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