University student’s startup helps people meet through shared activities
As the founder of Bondr, Leon Pluns is on a mission to help students and young professionals build real-world connections through shared activities.
“I wanted to give people a tool that makes it easier to connect during a social restart, like starting university,” he says.
Unlike most digital platforms, Bondr is designed to move interactions offline. “We consume so much content instead of pursuing real-life connections. On one side, there’s social media; on the other, dating apps—both are built to keep you on the app. Bondr is different.”
Bondr is an activity-centric social discovery app that connects people through shared interests. Primarily developed in 2024 and launched at the University of Calgary this April, the app began with a simple experiment from Pluns in 2019; during his first year at Humboldt University in Berlin.
“I hung up a piece of paper with my face on it that read ‘I want to play tennis.’ And it worked—people reached out,” he recalls.
After transferring to the University of Groningen, a smaller university town in the Netherlands, Pluns began to explore the idea of turning his concept into an app. In 2024, Pluns came to the University of Calgary on exchange to further develop Bondr and enlist a team to support his vision. “I specifically chose UCalgary because of its entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Pluns says.
With Bondr, Pluns hopes to combat digital loneliness, a growing issue in Canada. Research cites that social isolation and loneliness can affect all age groups and is linked to increased mortality and poorer health outcomes.
While the app is open to everyone, Bondr was initially created with students in mind. “In life, you have multiple new beginnings and one of the major ones is going to a new school,” Pluns says.
Pablo Mugnaini, head of business development at Bondr, relates to the experience. “When I started university, a lot of my friends went elsewhere. For me, it was a complete social restart. I met people through classes, and I had a lot of school friends, but they never developed into friendships outside of school,” he recalls.
“With Bondr, we’re trying to help people connect outside of the classroom and outside of social media platforms,” Mugnaini says. “This is how you build meaningful friendships—when you share an interest and connect based on the shared activity. The friendship is more likely to last longer and be stronger.”
Bondr was developed with the support of the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary.
“This is an app for students, by students,” Pluns says. The team ran focus groups directly within the Hunter Hub’s student community.
“We walked around the space, talked to people, and recruited them into our focus groups. These focus groups were conducted multiple times per week, and we used these sessions to really understand what students wanted.”
The team credits their progress to the overwhelming support they received throughout the development of the app.
“Entrepreneurship is so much more than I expected. People are so willing to help you out, especially when they believe in your mission,” Pluns says.
As Bondr continues to grow, Pluns and his team hope to organize more events, host shared activities, and ultimately, build a community for students at the university.
A huge step in that journey is bringing Bondr to Web Summit 2025 this May. Held in Vancouver, Web Summit is North America’s fastest growing tech conference.
Mugnaini is excited to make new connections at the conference. “I’m looking forward to meeting a diverse group of people, to hear from their experiences, learn from them, and incorporate what we learn into Bondr,” he says. Joining Pluns and Mugnaini is Carlos Andres Montoro, lead developer for Bondr.
The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking is proud to support ten of the University of Calgary’s most promising startups at Web Summit. These ventures, founded by students, researchers and alumni, have been supported by the Hunter Hub through various programming, mentorship, hands-on learning opportunities, and a rich community driven by entrepreneurial thinking and creative innovation.
Planning to attend Web Summit? Visit the Hunter Hub’s booth to connect with Bondr and the nine other ventures making waves in UCalgary’s innovation ecosystem.
Ready to take your first (or tenth) step into entrepreneurship at the University of Calgary? The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking is here to support you as you embark on your entrepreneurial journey, whatever form that may take. Through a variety of programs, services, and year-round community events, the Hunter Hub is here to meet you where you are — whether you’re looking to pitch a startup, develop your business, or simply dive deep into an issue that ignites you. Visit the Hunter Hub website to learn more.
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