A new startup called Kinnect aims to help people privately store intergenerational memories, traditions, recipes, and more. Its app, released this month, lets you create invite-only spaces where the whole family can share images, videos, audio, text, and more.
Kinnect was founded in May 2023 by Omar Alvarez, an entrepreneur with experience working for a telehealth brand focused on mental health. Alvarez came up with the idea for Kinnect after losing his grandfather to Alzheimer's disease and his best friend to leukemia.
As his grandfather began his battle with Alzheimer's, Alvarez and his family were coming to terms with the fact that he was losing his memory. They searched for a place where they could record and preserve his memories, but he passed away before they could find a way to do so.
Four years later, Alvarez's best friend was diagnosed with leukemia and asked him if he knew how he could record and save a personal message for his wife to hear after he was gone.
Alvarez's best friend passed away last November, six months before Kinnect was released. Alvarez wishes he could have made the device available in time for its release so that his best friend could easily record messages and stories for his wife, but he says his best friend's ideas and experiences contributed greatly to Kinnect.
Image credit: Kinnect
Alvarez named the app “Kinnect” because he believes it is the most inclusive word to describe family, one that encompasses both chosen relatives and blood relatives alike. He hopes Kinnect will become a platform where anyone can store intergenerational memories, not just blood relatives.
“Because I'm Latino and I'm gay, when I think about family, friends who feel like family are part of the equation,” Alvarez told TechCrunch. “The 'Kin' in Kinnect is the most inclusive word for family, and the 'net' represents the desire to connect — the desire to feel like you belong. I hope Kinnect helps reduce feelings of isolation and not belonging.”
When you start using the app, you'll be asked about your goals, for example, “Record life lessons,” “Preserve family history,” “Remember loved ones,” “Share moments,” etc. Kinnect will let you select all the options that apply to your goal.
Kinnect has a home feed, similar to what you'd find on Facebook or Instagram, that shows updates like new comments and uploads from users in an invite-only space.
The app also has a “Storybook” feature that allows users to organize their memories into digital albums based on different topics, preserving chapters of their family's ongoing story for current and future generations to revisit years from now.
If any family members aren't sure what to add to their family storybook, they can use the app's “guided storytelling” feature to receive prompts that answer their questions. For example, the app will ask them to talk about their current home and why they moved there. Alvarez said the startup added the guided storytelling feature because many people want to record their own stories but may not know where to start. In the future, Kinnect plans to use AI to personalize these prompts for each family member in the group.
Image credit: Kinnect
The app is aimed at all age groups, from teenagers to grandparents, and Alvarez said it was important to release a platform that was easy for seniors to use.
Kinnect is currently only available on iOS, but the startup plans to release an Android app in the coming months.
Kinnect's basic features are free to use, but users can sign up for an annual subscription to unlock unlimited storybooks and unlimited photo, video and audio uploads per story. The subscription costs $70 per year and can be used by up to five family members.
As for the future, Alvarez suggested Kinnect wants to move beyond the digital world and focus on in-person connections.
“We don't want to be a technology company that's only focused on digital solutions,” Alvarez said. “We know that having in-person connections and a sense of belonging is good for mental health. We're also going to think about how we behave in the real world.”
The startup has received $100,000 in funding through TechStar's Rising Stars program, which aims to support underrepresented founders in the U.S. Kinnect is also currently participating in Slauson & Co.'s accelerator program.