Dating App Spoony Announces Founding Team & Launch Date

Dating app startup Spoony has set a launch date for Q4 2024 and has announced its founding team. The Australian platform is set to be a dating & friendship space for neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled people.

The platform’s founding team includes CEO Nicholas Carlton, CTO Kenneth Liang, and Lead UX Designer Blake Crichton. Spoony was inspired by the experiences of co-founder Nicholas Carlton, who was forced to medically retire from his previous work due to a chronic illness. 

“Today’s dating apps are a frustrating experience for most people. But for neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled people, this frustration is an order of magnitude more intense and distressing”, Carlton explains.

“Many of these users are already socially isolated, to begin with. The mainstream dating apps don’t solve the problem; in fact, they are the problem. We’re building Spoony to fix this. We want everyone— regardless of who they are— empowered to thrive through human connections”, the CEO and Co-Founder shares.

Joining him is Kenneth Liang, who previously served as a product engineer at disability support app Mable. He expressed his excitement at empowering Spoony users and shared that “their vision of creating an inclusive, safe, and understanding space where individuality is celebrated and connections are deeply valued resonates with my core beliefs”.

Also part of the founding team is Lead Experience Designer Blake Crichton. With experience in UX/UI design at Domino’s Pizza, Crichston says “I’m excited to be joining the Spoony team to help build a product that will focus on the needs of millions of people who don’t fit the typical mould. We’re going to build the most accessible dating app ever made.”

Working alongside these co-founders will be an advisory board of leading disability advocates, the dating app announced. Looking ahead, the Spoony team will be focused on testing and designing UX, while also connecting with investors to raise pre-seed funding.

Spoony is set to launch in Q4 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. Find out more about the platform on its website here.