Investors May Be Turning To Smaller Dating Startups

A number of smaller social and dating startups have drawn attention from investors in recent months, mainly those seeking funding to address loneliness, dating app fatigue, and shortcomings in professional networking tools. One list of platforms, compiled on Business Insider, covers a number of companies spanning social networking, dating, and AI, ranging from early-stage experiments to those that have already secured multi-million-dollar rounds.

Several startups in the group are treating loneliness as a workplace issue rather than solely a personal one. Caroline Dell, chief executive of Goodword, noted that while loneliness is often associated with friends and family, professionals spend most of their waking hours at work. Other companies, including Series, Boardy, and Filament, have raised funding for AI tools aimed at improving networking or sustaining professional relationships.

On the consumer side, founders are responding to dissatisfaction with existing dating and social platforms. The team behind photo-sharing app Retro includes former Instagram employees, while social-mapping app PamPam was developed by ex-Google staff. Gen Z founder Isabella Epstein is building Kndrd, which emphasizes in-real-life connections.

Investors remain selective. Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital, which has more than $600 million in assets under management, observed that not every pitch qualifies as a venture-scale opportunity. “Founders have to be honest with themselves,” he said. “Some of them aren’t really venture-scale or venture-type investments. We’re looking for the next big thing, the next category leader.”

Firms such as Intuition VC and Patron have made loneliness and relationships part of their investment focus, but are naturally still looking for investments that are likely to turn a profit or see major growth shortly after the investments. As more and more startups sprout up to try and fill gaps in the dating and social markets, the amount of options broadens, but many investors are looking for specific opportunities rather than just a good concept.

A good example is the recent acquisition of Flamme, an already-established platform that has been acquired by the wellness startup Arya after the founders got into a discussion about the industry as a whole. This led to a unique “combined arms” approach that sets up the two platforms as standalone experiences with similar tools shared across both.

The industry is undergoing many changes – both in terms of what audiences want and the tools available to dating platforms, such as various AI systems – and investors are having to change their approach in response.