Foura, An Introduction Service

Reviewed by Ron Lee, CSP

According to founder Tam Al-Saad, “Foura is a matchmaking service to help people find friends, not dates”.

This is how Foura works:

Finish a quick survey that prompts you to give some information about yourself so you can be matched with like-minded people.

You will then be paired with three people Foura believe you'll click with.

You gather at a Surry Hills bar or café predetermined for you. Foura gets you to sign up to meet up quickly. There is no swiping and chatting on the app.

You’ll be matched with people who have similar interests and values. Having a topic to discuss makes getting together less intimidating.

You can be mixed or single gender. You can leave it to fate or choose for yourself. You meet up with three other people at a partner venue, so people know where you are.

On my scheduled night, I was directed to the table with the blue card. I mistakenly thought that there would be other tables with other coloured cards, but ours was the only Foura table.

My table-mates were Chris, a project manager, Odette, a school teacher, and Toni, a blockchain expert and motivational speaker. Everyone has a story, and there were no awkward silences or uncomfortable moments.

We were there for two hours, and whether we’ll catch up individually or as a group is yet to be seen.

Tam Al-Saad seems to be well-organised and has a practical system in place. An upside is that if you choose to have drinks or coffee rather than lunch or brunch, you’re not compelled to stay for the entire time. That said, we all left at the same time.

Foura only started last year, so it’s still building, and with Tam Al-Saad’s marketing and digital background and system, it has the potential to be a successful service to people who want to connect with potential new friends. It’s designed to find mates, not dates, but it seems that all of the people at my table are single.