Ditto Passes 200,000 Sign-Ups Across US College Campuses

AI dating service Ditto has passed 200,000 sign-ups and expanded to around 20 to 25 US college campuses. The service started at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley and targets students looking for dates within their own campus communities.

Ditto works through text rather than a traditional dating app. Students tell the AI what they are looking for, and Ditto searches for a compatible person on their campus. Every Wednesday at 7 PM, users receive one match. If both accept, Ditto helps arrange the date, including suggesting where and when to meet.

The company has been using a “Someone has a crush on you” feature to drive growth. Students can submit the name of someone they like. Ditto then emails that person to tell them someone has a crush on them, prompting them to sign up to find out more.

Ditto had more than 42,000 users in February, when it raised a $9.2 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners. The company previously raised $1.6 million, bringing its disclosed funding to $10.8 million. Longer term, Ditto wants to use the same AI matching model beyond dating, including professional networking, mentors, co-founders and sports partners.

Source: Daily Trojan

Mark Brooks: College campuses are hotbeds for starting dating apps, as Tinder can attest to. A good place to build buzz. Tinder did it by sponsoring parties, with entry available to people who could show they had Tinder on their phones. Regarding Ditto’s text to AI, text is nice, but voice is better. Known and Overtone both have voice enabled AI apps. More are in the works by some very capable people in the dating industry.