Local tech start-up UpTo has been getting a lot of love from national tech blogs due to its software upgrade, released last week.
The calendar app allows users to "follow friends and family to see plans they're sharing, and follow public streams to see what's coming up in sports, music, movies and more," UpTo told Deadline Detroit in an April article. "All of this information is seamlessly organized in a single, social feed of upcoming events, making it simple to discover and share future plans."
A screenshot of the UpTo app
UpTo 2.0 improved its customizable calendar streams for businesses, UpTo's main revenue source. According to Crain's, "Companies that sign on as UpTo customers will be able to send targeted messages, including coupons or discount offers, to those they know will be coming to an event near them."
The change caught the attention of Fast Company, Forbes, Venture Beat, Tech Crunch, and more.
According to Forbes:
The whole idea of UpTo isn't its traditional calendar, with rows for week dates and icons to alert you to upcoming events (though of course it does have this function built in), but instead it's all about the social layer. You can chat with your friends through the app about date-related events, and you can follow public "streams" of event information so you don't miss out on games your favorite teams are playing or shows at your city's theater.
UpTo can sync with native calendar applications and supports major calendar platforms like Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar. The app supports swipe-to-hide events to curate their feed. There is a dynamic heat map that shows how busy each day of the month is so that planning ahead is easy.
UpTo expects profits of a few million in 2014 and as much as $75 million in 2016. TicketMaster, the state of Michigan, and the Dan Gilbert-owned Cleveland Cavaliers are already using the service.
