This 21-Year-Old Just Raised Serious Cash for 'Fever', His Events App
Pep Gómez raised some serious cash for his party app, Fever.
May 7, 2014— -- What separates Pep Gómez from other party-loving 21-year-olds is that for him, it's a multimillion dollar business.
Gómez, who decided to skip college in favor of building Fever, an event discovery app, landed a cool $3 million investment today from top investors such as Flickr CEO Bernardo Hernandez and Jeff Pulver, an early investor in Twitter and Foursquare.
"My college is my company," Gómez, who grew up in Spain and is based in New York City, told ABCNews.com. "Basically I’m like any other guy for my age, I like to do things."
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The only difference: While his cohort is cramming for finals, Gómez spends up to 15 hours a day working on Fever at his New York City office.
The idea was born when Gómez moved to San Francisco as a teenager to intern at a venture capital firm.
"I was new in the city. I was super young and couldn’t go into any clubs," Gómez said. "I also discovered people were so lazy and it was difficult to discover what was the good event."
Gómez, who started his first business, a music marketplace, when he was 15, said he created Fever to be a solution to the "never-ending dilemma" of deciding "what to do tonight."
The app launched in Madrid last year and New York City this year and has a staff of 40 people, Gómez said, noting he plans to expand the Fever empire this year to other major cities in the United States.
Fever is free and available for iPhone and Android.
The app works by taking a user's top three interests, such as music, parties and dancing. Users then connect with friends and taste-makers in their city to learn about events that may be of interest to them.
"We tell people what to do in their city, based not only on what you want to see but the people you care about," Gómez said.
Bookings, whether for tickets or RSVPs, can also be made through the app.
"We try to make it more simple and more [tailored] for you," Gómez said.
And like any other 21-year-old, Gómez doesn't want to miss a good party.
His advice for people planning to throw an event: "Send us an email, then if we like it, we'll add it!"