Dating apps haven’t changed since 1995. We focus on how attractive one looks before swiping left or right. Women spend, on average, 6.91 seconds on a man before swiping left, losing a potentially perfect match. Current dating apps do not get the job done, and we believe there is significant potential in the consumer dating space in the months ahead.

This is grounded in the numbers too. According to an app intelligence provider data.ai, global dating app installations saw a slowdown in 2024. Downloads slightly went up by 1.9% compared to a 29% increase in January the previous year. Tinder in the prior quarter reported a 6% decline in customers paying for its app, which sent the stock tumbling. We might assume dating to be finished by this data; however, research shows that loneliness is rising and around 60% of people report feeling lonely regularly. Clearly something is wrong with dating apps.

What Dating Was Like In The Past

Dating has gone through significant evolution throughout history — from physical matchmaking to online AI matchmaking services. In France, the aristocracy once relied on a formal system where aristocrats had a pool of partners to choose from. While in Britain, arranged marriages became the norm. Dating during the 1600s was not a casual affair; people dated to marry, and marriage mistakes could result in inheritance consequences. Over time, dating transitioned into courtship, with women engaging with men under a chaperone. Yes, you read that right, women were literally bringing their parents to their dates.

However, societal shifts led to greater female independence and the role of chaperones eventually dissolved. As we saw a platform shift towards mobile and internet, we started to see the dating pool become larger and larger. As a result, dating became a social activity rather than solely an activity for marriage. 

With these platform shifts, we’ve started to see new ways people find and interact with each other — phone calls, texting, Instagram DMs. We’ve also started to see online dating become a new way for people to find love. 

‍‍Dating Now

Most couples now find each other through dating apps. However, even as online dating becomes increasingly popular, this form of dating sucks for the masses. According to researchers from the University of Victoria, only 0.3% of their surveyed respondents said that meeting via an online dating service was favorable.

Gary Kremen launched the world’s first dating site — Match.com. This was a free service supported by ads, with the idea to charge for subscriptions as it grew. Except he had a problem: “We need more women!” This is the first problem that we see in dating apps — there’s a significant imbalance between the number of men and women.

Tinder, the most popular dating platform, started off using an Elo rating system. If someone swipes left on you, your rating effectively gets dropped, and vice versa. You then get matched with someone with a similar rating. Tinder has now changed its algorithm, though they are not quite transparent with how it works. 

Hinge, on the other hand, uses the Gale-Shapley algorithm. In an interview with Vice, Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge, says:

It’s not just based on who you are likely to like, it’s also based on who is likely to like you back. It’s all about pairing people who are likely to mutually like one another. Over time, we see who do you like, who do you send comments to, who are you having conversations with. This gives us a clue to, not just to who you’re looking at, but who you are actually engaging with.

The problem with these algorithms is that they require activity — and a lot of activity to get a successful match. Hinge, for example, requires users to like and drop comments for their algorithm to work. With an imbalance of men and women, this process becomes significantly more difficult. 

What Dating Apps Are Getting Wrong

Dating apps were created for a great reason and have evolved significantly over the years. However, dating apps do not get the job done.

The gender imbalance leaves “average” men with no matches. Not enough women means not enough potential matches for men. Apps with significant gender imbalance make it tough for most men, and as a result, leave men feeling insecure with no lover.

Dating apps are inauthentic and lack serendipity. According to Pew Research, about half of those who use dating apps have encountered scammers. There are minimal measures set in place to prevent catfishes or scammers on these platforms. The lack of serendipity makes interactions feel like “hook-up requests,” and prevents any genuine relationship from spurring.

Dating apps don’t value personality and the “click.” Most mainstream dating apps focus on a photo-first approach. However, roughly 75% of young daters say personality is the most important factor when deciding who to date. A photo-first approach prohibits an individual’s personality from shining through and limits the opportunity for them to “click.”

The Future of Dating

The next big dating app would effectively challenge these problems and reshape the way we think about relationships. We believe startups can begin to challenge these obstacles by focusing on these core tenets: AI matchmaking, exclusive dating communities, and personality over picture.

AI matchmaking. We’re excited about startups that can leverage AI to matchmake. This can come in various forms such as using AI to make matches or using a chatbot to stir up conversations. For example, imagine a chatbot sees that you’re both into music — the chatbot can ask “what music do you like” to stir an, otherwise, dry conversation. This simple solution allows individuals to have some fun while having a great conversation. We’re looking at companies like Iris, Cuffed Dating, and Keeper AI who are in this space.

Exclusive dating communities. “Opposites attract” seems to be false here. Research suggests that people are often attracted to and end up dating individuals who are similar to them. We’re excited about exclusive dating communities that make a personality match more probable than a general app like Tinder or Hinge. Most individuals know exactly what they want in a relationship even before downloading the app; thus, allowing them to get an initial touch point with a match makes a romantic relationship even more likely. We’re interested in looking at companies like Raya (the exclusive dating app), Lox Club (Jew-ish people with high standards), and Score (minimum credit score to join).

Personality over picture. 75% of young daters believe personality is the most important factor when deciding who to date. We all know personality is the most important, but we often swipe left on someone that we deem unattractive and thus lose out on a potential perfect match. By emphasizing personality and compatibility, we’re able to give each person a fair opportunity. We’re excited for companies like Hatched which aims to solve this problem.

Dating is Not Easy

We understand that dating apps are one of the hardest apps to build. Dating apps have built-in churn, a shelf life, and higher customer acquisition costs. In addition, we recognize that some features like exclusive dating communities might limit TAM. However, dating apps can become massively profitable businesses, while built-in churn might lead to a higher NPS and new user growth.

Of course, we understand that consumer social is one of the hardest businesses to play in. However, we’re expecting major shifts and hopefully see a new winner in the dating space.

We’ve compiled a market map of consumer dating startups we’re excited about:

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