Dating app from ex-Tinder executive lets strangers play matchmaker
AI generated
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strangers → let → AI
A former Tinder executive launched a new dating app that invites the community to vote on strangers’ compatibility, putting a twist on courtship at a time when singles have grown exhausted with swiping.
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singles → launch → swiping
Rivet, which opens to US users on Oct 8, relies on a pool of volunteer “matchers” who rate whether two given people might be compatible.
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people → open → matchers
The idea is to prioritise quality connections over quantity, giving daters just a few pre-vetted options at a time, founder and chief executive Taru Kapoor said in an interview.
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Kapoor → prioritise → interview
That may include some prospects who fall outside the user’s typical preferences.
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who → include → preferences
“It surfaces a lot of people that you may otherwise swipe past, especially because when you’re swiping through like 200 people on Bumble or Hinge, and people get faster and faster, more and more transactional and judgmental,” said Kapoor, who spent eight years at Tinder and was a general manager for several Asian markets.
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who → surface → markets
Dating-app companies have been making major changes to their products in a bid to lure back singles who have reported burnout.
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who → make → burnout
Bumble and Match Group’s Tinder host in-person meet-ups to get people off the app and keep users engaged.
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Bumble → host → users
Bumble has also added an artificial intelligence-powered matchmaking tool as an alternative to swiping, and it gives men a chance to make the first move, not just women.
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it → add → move
New York-based Rivet, which raised US$10.5 million (S$13.4 million) in seed funding and has been testing in select markets, is available on iOS and Android.
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which → base → iOS
Though it is free to join, some features are paywalled, including the ability to message someone without having been matched by the community first.
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features → join → community
The platform is built on the premise that aggregating wisdom from a crowd can help cancel out individual biases for better results.
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aggregating → build → results
Users fill out their profiles with information about what they are looking for, and the algorithm suggests potential pairings.
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algorithm → fill → pairings
Matchers then review the profiles and cast their vote, resulting in a composite compatibility score.
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Matchers → review → score
High-scoring pairs are matched and can choose to start chatting.
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pairs → score → ?
“It’s very easy for most of us to look at a friend who may be dating the wrong person and ask, ‘Why?’” Kapoor said.
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Kapoor → ’ → person
“Most humans are actually pretty good at reading other people.”
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humans → read → people
People also tend to be “more objective and rational”, she added, when they are outsiders looking in on someone else’s life.
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they → tend → life
Rivet is not the first dating platform to outsource matchmaking to a community of volunteers.
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Rivet → outsource → volunteers
In 2025, reality star Bethenny Frankel launched the Core, where daters receive curated matches from their peers.
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daters → launch → peers
It is unclear if either of these alternative dating platforms has a chance of pulling in large numbers of users.
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either → have → users
Kapoor’s app is attempting to stand out with an AI-powered visualisation feature that blends photo pairs together, helping users gauge vibe and height compatibility side by side.
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users → attempt → side
“Humans introducing humans is the oldest technology,” Kapoor said.
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Kapoor → introduce → humans
“A lot of people are turning to matchmaking – human curation – more than before, but it’s very expensive.
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it → turn → matchmaking
If you can afford a US$20,000 matchmaker, great.
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you → afford → matchmaker
But if you can’t, how about I give you several different matches for free?”
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I → give → matches
Rivet tries in different ways to gamify the experience to persuade people to return.
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Rivet → try → people
Matchers can earn “karma currency” when successful matches are made, which can be redeemed for profile perks, direct introductions, cash rewards or gift cards.
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which → earn → perks
(The ability to reach out to someone without having matched costs 1,000 in karma points for one message.
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ability → reach → message
A pack of 3,000 karma costs US$9.99.)
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pack → cost → 9.99
The app also includes features such as weekly top-matcher leaderboards, live events, and promotions that cover half the cost of a first date.
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that → include → date
“People can log onto the app and there are live social match events happening live, with a host and a pair on the screen,” she said.
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she → log → screen
“A lot of people join in and then the audience asks questions.
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audience → join → questions
We are bringing this energy of sort of making the crowd your wingmen.”
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crowd → bring → energy
The Aporia
