Tea Founder Tackles Online Dating’s Safety Gap for Women

Online dating remains fraught with risk, particularly for women navigating apps that often lack sufficient safety measures. In response, entrepreneur Sean Cook has launched and developed Tea over the last two years, a safety-first platform designed to vet potential matches before in-person meetings ever occur. The app allows women to conduct real-time background checks, scan public records, reverse-search images, and flag suspicious behavior.

It was born out of Cook’s personal experience watching his mother become the target of dating scams. That moment, he says, opened his eyes to a widespread issue. “My mom’s challenges with online dating were upsetting — and eye-opening. However, when I brought it up with my friends, I learned it wasn’t just my mom who was going through this; every woman I spoke to had a similar story,” Cook explained.

With a tech background shaped at companies like Salesforce and Shutterfly, Cook founded Tea in 2023. Since its launch, the platform has attracted over half a million users and earned more than 16,000 five-star reviews. Its early success, including $1.6 million in annual recurring revenue, has largely come from organic growth driven by word of mouth.

Tea has gone viral and been in the news several times for its commitment to safety, along with its increasing popularity. While Tea is relatively small compared to dating app giants, it continues to see relatively high success due to it being the only widely-known app of its kind – and one that is becoming increasingly important as more dating apps, including Tinder and other industry giants, try to build up their own effective dating safety measures to meet the needs of their users.