Anantika Mannby has been ultra-productive during her gap year.

With a pair of Mercer Island High School (MIHS) juniors by her side, the trio of stalwarts has brought its startup to life. Mannby, her sister Aditi and Keegan Wang launched Treffa (Swedish for “to come to a point” or “to hit a target”) about two months ago and the co-founders are thrilled to continue traversing the online business terrain.

Anantika, a 2022 MIHS graduate, described Treffa as a social media platform and retail network where shoppers can make personalized requests and other users can become involved by supplying recommendations on where to locate the items. The entire process can empower people by sharing their knowledge, establish an online community, promote small businesses, bring sustainable retail to the forefront and more.

The entire experience could be equated to attending a community event like the Mercer Island Farmers Market, said Anantika, noting that she and her sister are half-Swedish, hence the startup’s moniker.

It took more than a year for the trio to devise the concept for the app along with engaging in the design and coding processes. On the monetary front, they reel in profits on the transaction of bounties, which are set when a shopper makes a request for a specific item. Presently, Treffa consists of about 15 team members, including the co-founders and interns.

Anantika began sowing the seeds for Treffa more than two years ago when her mom was scrolling through copious sites to locate the ideal rug to reside in their living room to no avail.

“I was like, ‘How cool would it be if there was a website where you took a picture of your living room and made a request, and people found you a rug that matched your house?’” she said. “How can we create a platform where buyers can shop for things that they have to buy every day, whether that’s clothes or furniture or posters or whatever?”

All three co-founders developed their skills to launch the app through their involvement with the Mercer Island School District Destination Imagination (DI) program, in which students solve challenges in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math and the arts.

Anantika said they have gone from creating weird-shaped robots in the stimulating DI realm to impacting people’s lives through Treffa.

“The three of us have always been in the process of dreaming up things that are insane and incredible and that we don’t think we can make and then figuring out how to make them happen. To us, a startup is an opportunity to do DI in the real world,” she said.

It’s been an exciting journey to witness Treffa grow from an idea to placing the app into the business world, said Aditi, adding that other vital aspects of the startup are having conversations with people about the platform and growing the retail community.

The motivation to create begins at home, Aditi said. “My family has always valued pursuing our ideas and our passions fully through,” she added.

Aditi feels that Treffa can really take off and perhaps expand from a fashion outlet to one day having users give recommendations on houses.

When Wang heard about the Mannbys’ app in progress, he wanted in.

“I’ve always wanted to work on a startup. It’s not really an opportunity I could pass up,” said Wang, adding that he had already tackled the DI challenges and was ready to put his mind to some more high-level tasks.

Recently, the Treffa crew spoke with MIHS students in their classes to get a buzz going around the app. They’re also planning to partner with the Mercer Island Thrift Shop to spotlight items and hold a clothing sale while incorporating the garments into Treffa.

Since joining the Mannbys at Treffa, Wang said he’s faced some welcome challenges that have taken the app a step further while attaining personal growth.

“I’m learning how to be a leader and how do I work towards different peoples’ strengths? How do I make our team work the best together versus just how do I make sure that (we’re) targeting the right market?” he said.

To download Treffa, visit: https://bit.ly/treffa000; the website is at: www.treffa.us.

To contact the Treffa co-founders, visit: @treffa.us on Instagram, or email them at media@treffa.us.