TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#FacedriveHiride—Facedrive Inc. (“Facedrive”) (TSXV: FD), a Canadian “people-and-planet-first” tech ecosystem, is thrilled to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, HiRide Share Ltd. (“HiRide”), a socially-responsible business offering innovative transportation and communication solutions, has achieved over 500,000 downloads of its HiQ Social App within just one month of its release. HiQ (the “App”) is a mobile application aimed at promoting meaningful interest-based interactions during these difficult times of the pandemic.
As a socialization and gaming platform that encourages users to stay connected and engaged while practicing social distancing, HiQ offers its users to initiate interactions with one another based on shared interests, as well as win cash prizes and other rewards by competing in weekly trivia challenges.
Available on both the App Store and the Google Play Store, HiQ has been consistently moving up the trivia charts worldwide. The App has been ranked within the trivia category in over 100 countries, and rated among the top 5 trivia apps in over 50 countries. HiQ counts over 45,000 daily active users and is growing virally on an international scale allowing more users to connect with like-minded people.
The trivia aspect of the app has demonstrated to be a user favourite, and since its initial release in late June, the HiQ team has implemented numerous enhancements to HiQ’s AI based gamification technology in order to keep users engaged and connected with new challenges. For instance, new trivia categories as well as over 5,000 new trivia questions have been introduced to augment the existing extensive question pool and effectively retain frequent users of the app. Another significant enhancement within the HiQ app was the development of the virtual wallet feature. The virtual wallet feature allows users to cash their rewards earned by playing trivia games. Finally, one of the most recent feature additions was the introduction of the Global Leaderboard feature. With the help of Global Leaderboard, users can keep track of the number of points earned since registration, as well as their overall ranking.
The HiQ team continues to explore the potential new features that would benefit user experience and drive engagement on the platform. Enhancements to the chat functions, including audio and video chat options, will be rolled out as a part of the roadmap in the upcoming weeks. Moreover, the Global Virtual Hackathon announced on June 25th, 2020, is being conducted to hand-pick game-changing ideas and engage talented forward thinkers in the HiQ project to further fuel its growth. The HiRide team encourages its users to continue checking for new and exciting features as the platform is constantly being updated.
“In the last few weeks, we have seen our HiQ community grow internationally. It has been exciting for us to reach this incredible milestone and further drive social interaction efforts between users while practicing social distancing. We are always working on developing new features, and will continue to improve our product and customer experience,” said Akshat Soni, CEO of HiRide.
“The HiQ platform has demonstrated tremendous growth within just one month of its launch. This is a clear indication that we are moving in the right direction to match the unfulfilled needs for socialization that exist in our communities under the current pandemic response protocols, especially among the younger demographic. HiQ has performed exceptionally well across major metrics such as user engagement, retention, and time spent on the platform, which are critical for further monetization,” said CEO and Chairman of Facedrive Sayan Navaratnam. “As an ecosystem comprised of several complementary business verticals, we anticipate that cross-platform adoption will take place as HiQ users become increasingly attached to the platform,” added Navaratnam.
About HiRide
HiRide is an evolution in car-pooling. HiRide is an innovative, first-of-its-kind long-distance travel car-pooling app that seeks to change the face of transportation for commuters. HiRide’s mission is to transport students and professionals all across the globe to their desired destinations while reducing the negative impact of the ridesharing segment on the environment. HiRide is an entirely new, people-powered global transport network that connects drivers with empty seats to passengers looking for a ride. HiRide’s goal is to make travel and social life efficient as well as more affordable for its members worldwide. This is achieved through its offering of an innovative platform, dedicated customer service, and a fast-growing community of users. HiQ is a socialization and gaming mobile application that encourages users to stay connected and engaged while social distancing.
For more about HiRide, visit www.hiride.ca.
About Facedrive
Facedrive is a multi-faceted “people-and-planet first” platform offering socially-responsible services to local communities with a strong commitment to doing business fairly, equitably and sustainably. Facedrive Rideshare was the first to offer green transportation solutions in the TaaS space, planting thousands of trees and giving users a choice between EVs, hybrids and conventional vehicles. Facedrive Marketplace offers curated merchandise created from sustainably sourced materials. Facedrive Foods offers contactless deliveries of a wide variety of foods with the focus on healthy foods right to consumers’ doorsteps. Facedrive Health develops innovative technological solutions to the most acute health challenges of the day. Facedrive is changing the ridesharing, food delivery, e-commerce and health tech narratives for the better, for everyone. Facedrive is currently operational in the following cities and municipalities of Ontario: Toronto and the GTA, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Burlington and Orillia.
For more about Facedrive, visit www.facedrive.com.
Facedrive Inc.
100 Consilium Pl, Unit 400, Scarborough, ON, Canada M1H 3E3
Forward-Looking Information
Certain information in this press release contains forward-looking information. This information is based on management’s reasonable assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to us and are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors. Information regarding our expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not facts but instead represent management’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
See “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” in the Corporation’s Filing Statement dated August 28, 2019 for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. Readers are urged to consider the uncertainties, risks and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. We have no intention and undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts
Media: Sana Srithas | sana@facedrive.com
Sayan Navaratnam
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Tel: 1-888-300-2228
