20 Fast-Growing Dating Companies & Startups
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Finding love online is commonplace in the modern world, with some data showing that 1 out of every ten adults in the U.S. has found lasting companionship from a dating app.
Even more people (3 in ten American adults) have used these services at some point.
Given those numbers, it’s no surprise that more and more startups are launching dating apps that serve a niche or underserved groups or use science to attempt to provide even better matches.
Those are the recurring themes in this list of 20 growing dating startups.
1. Feeld
5-year search growth: 242%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2014
Location: London, England
Funding: $550K (Angel)
What they do: Feeld is a dating app designed for people who are interested in exploring alternative forms of relationships, such as polyamory and open relationships. It allows users to create a profile with customized preferences and connect with others who share similar interests. Feeld aims to create a safe and inclusive space for people to explore their sexuality and relationships without judgment or stigma.
2. So Syncd
5-year search growth: 1,300%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: London, England
Funding: $1M (Pre-Seed)
What they do: So Syncd is a dating app centered on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality compatibility. The founders, sisters Jessica and Louella Alderson launched the company after realizing the inadequacy of photo-based dating apps that ignored the importance of personality matching. The company was established in 2019 and saw 30,000 signups and a wedding within one year. In 2021, the startup raised $1M with has since moved to the U.S.
3. Hinge
5-year search growth: 194%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2011
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $20.6M (Series A)
What they do: Hinge describes itself as a dating app that’s “designed to be deleted.” The internet relationship startup, founded by Harvard Business School graduate Justin McLeod, has millions of users and was acquired in 2019 by Match Group. Like other similar dating apps, Hinge established COVID-19 vaccination verification in mid-2021.
4. DNA Romance
5-year search growth: 14%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2014
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: DNA Romance provides online romantic matches by analyzing DNA markers, Meyers-Briggs personality types, natural physical attraction, and shared interests. Users can add an existing raw DNA file from services like Ancestry DNA, 23andMe, Genera, and others, purchase a DNA testing kit from DNA Romance, or receive relationship suggestions with just a personality evaluation. Founders Timothy Sexton, a doctor of population genetics, and businesswoman Judith Bosire first met through internet dating before founding the company in 2014 and launching the service publicly in 2017.
5. Happn
5-year search growth: 7,000%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2014
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $22M (Series C)
What they do: Happn is a location-based social media and dating app. Unlike other dating apps, Happn does not match users based on common interests or mutual friends, but rather on real-life encounters and other users they have crossed paths with. As of February 2024, Happn currently serves over 100 million users.
6. EME Hive
5-year search growth: 2,841%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2013
Location: New York, NY
Funding: $12.8M (Series B)
What they do: EME Hive is a dating app and online community platform that caters to the Asian population worldwide. The app offers a variety of features such as matchmaking, live streaming, and social networking to connect people of Asian descent. EME Hive aims to create a safe and inclusive space for Asians to meet and build meaningful relationships.
7. Filteroff
5-year search growth: 5.456%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $2.4M (Seed)
What they do: Filteroff is a video speed dating app and matchmaking service. Zach Schleien, the company's founder, built this app because he was "tired of going on bad in-person first dates" and wanted to video chat first. Filteroff also offers a matchmaking service called "Matchmaker Pro," where users can join virtual speed dating events to meet other members. In 2022, the startup raised a seed funding round from Anheuser-Busch's InBev.
8. Vybe
5-year search growth: 121%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Funding: Undisclosed (Series Unknown)
What they do: Vybe is an Africa-based online dating startup. Software engineer founders Osagie Omonzokpia, Moronke Anifowose, and Adetolani Eko wanted to solve the issue of dating app access in Africa and give users a platform more tailored to their unique situation and culture. The company has already seen considerable revenue growth and upwards of 25,000 downloads as of June 2021.
9. AntiLand
5-year search growth: 44%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: Los Gatos, California
Funding: $250K (Seed)
What they do: AntiLand is a chat room platform for making connections, both romantic and platonic. User activity is policed by a system where people gain “karma” for using the app as intended to connect with others and lose “karma” for receiving complaints or engaging in improper conduct. The company, founded by entrepreneur Nick Halavins, was honored at the 2019 Silicon Valley Open Doors Technology Investment Conference with the Social Impact award.
10. Tawkify
5-year search growth: 67%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2012
Location: Wilmington, DE
Funding: Undisclosed (Series A)
What they do: Tawkify is a matchmaking service that offloads the time commitment and manual effort generally associated with dating apps. Turning the model of Tinder and other similar apps on its head, Tawkify uses human matchmakers to assess connections between users. Stanford alum Kenneth Shaw, who previously created Homeslyce and the My Purity Test Facebook App, co-founded Tawkify with established advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
11. Salt
5-year search growth: 23%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: London, England
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: SALT is a dating startup geared toward a Christian audience. Users post their bios, which other users can “like,” triggering a match if both users react in the same way. The app was founded in 2018 and launched in 2021 by Paul Rider, formerly a fintech professional. Though total funding is not listed, the app reportedly brought in an early funding amount of $370K.
12. Lex
5-year search growth: 50%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2020
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $1.6M (Pre-Seed)
What they do: Lex caters to a queer audience, including people that identify as non-binary or transgender. The text-based app prioritizes personality and cleverness over appearance and offers an alternative to other dating apps that may focus on the straight community. The concept, brought into reality by founder Kell Rakowski, is based on retro newspaper personal ads and has received funding from writer Roxane Gay, dating app founder Amanda Bradford, Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn, and others.
13. HER
5-year search growth: 19%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2012
Location: London, England
Funding: $2M (Seed)
What they do: HER is an online dating startup geared towards an LGBTQ+ audience. The app offers a unique community for queer individuals to meet and socialize both online and in person. Founder Robyn Exton started the company in 2013 with roughly $20,000 of personal funds after being unimpressed with the online dating options available for lesbians and wanting a more tailored option.
14. Taimi
5-year search growth: 56%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2017
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Taimi is an app that enables an LGBTQ+ audience to make friends and find romantic partners. The app, which boasts over 11.5M users, was originally founded by Alex Pasykov as an online dating site for the gay community. Over time, Pasykov expanded the vision to provide a safe space for other individuals under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
15. Stir
5-year search growth: 2,000%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2022
Location: Dallas, Texas
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Stir is a dating app aimed at connecting single parents. With over 20 million single parents in the United States, the app caters to this demographics with unique scheduling features to coordinate dates around their children. As of 2024, the app has receieved over 500,000 downloads on the Google Play Store alone.
16. HeeSay
5-year search growth: 99x+
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2024
Location: Beijing, China
Funding: $132M (Series D)
What they do: HeeSay is an LGBTQ+ social networking and dating app with over 40 million users worldwide. Users can connect, chat, and meet with other users through live content, meet ups, and 1-on-1 video calls. In January 2024, Blued rebranded and changed its name to HeeSay to reach an international audience.
17. Raya
5-year search growth: 228%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Los Angeles, California
Funding: Undisclosed (Seed)
What they do: Raya is a dating app geared at the elite, rich, and famous, with clientele including Matthew Perry, Demi Lovato, Amy Schumer, Drew Barrymore, and Channing Tatum. Unsurprisingly, the app features a highly selective application process with an acceptance rate of just 8%. Though the app is secretive by design (even screenshots of its inner workings aren’t allowed), it has brought considerable wealth to its founder Daniel Gendelman and secured the interest of early investor Jared Morgenstern, former Facebook employee, now-Raya COO.
18. Hans Matrimony
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Delhi, India
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Hans Matrimony offers online relationship-pairing services for cultures and people who engage in kundali (AKA horoscope) matchmaking. The app, founded by Sagar Dewan, who also founded the dating app Twango, gives its clientele an easy, digitally assisted alternative for pairing people with the right matches.
19. Thursday
5-year search growth: 833%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: London, England
Funding: $3.1M (Seed)
What they do: Thursday is a dating app named for the one weekday that its services are offered. The intention behind the platform is to help people find love without neglecting their life outside of dating apps. Newly launched in May 2021, the app has already brought in around $3M in a seed fundraising round from venture capital firms and angel investors, including Wandera founder Eldar Tuvey and Monzo founder Tom Blomfield.
20. Heart Rate Social
5-year search growth: 130%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Austin, Texas
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Heart Rate Social enables romantic and social connections between users based on a mutual love of fitness and exercise. The Austin-based app brought in $200K pre-launch and is currently fundraising on MicroVentures. At the moment, they boast over 2,600 users and nearly 3,000 downloads.
Conclusion
While much of the world still remembers a time when dating and connections happened offline, internet dating is now a widely accepted way to find lasting romantic relationships, not just flings or hookups.
The startups listed here are evidence that people today are interested in exploring matching services that go beyond surface-level attributes and aim to bring individuals together based on everything from birth charts to religion to DNA profiles.
Additionally, several of these dating apps focus specifically on catering to an LGBTQ+ audience.
