Matchmaking is having a moment, whether it’s an AI matchmaker for college students or human matchmakers with decades of experience. And while singles are increasingly vexed by dating apps, the platforms are trying to pull in loved ones to help them date, too — like with Hinge‘s recent feature Friend’s Take.
Amid these trends, a new app for both singles and wannabe matchmakers launches today: Rivet. Founded by former Tinder and Match Group executive Taru Kapoor, Rivet is a “social matching” app that will attempt to replace algorithms with the wisdom of crowds. Users sign up as Daters or Matchers, and all are encouraged to pair up others.
“Dating has always been social,” said Kapoor in a press release shared with Mashable. She spent years thinking that dating apps were removing friction from meeting each other, but instead, “we removed the people.”
Dating apps created matches by connecting people who wouldn’t have met otherwise, Kapoor continued, but a side effect was that they turned something fundamentally social and human — dating — into a transactional, isolated activity.
“I built Rivet to change that,” she said. “Rivet is built on a simple truth: humans understand chemistry and compatibility in a way that no algorithm can. You don’t have to find your person entirely on your own, let people help you find your person.”
How does Rivet work?
On Rivet, all Daters are also Matchers, but not all Matchers are Daters, Kapoor told Mashable. “Even if you’re married, in a relationship or simply not currently looking to date, you can still join Rivet to be a Matcher and help people find meaningful connections,” she said over email. You can make a Dater profile later if you’d like, but you’re never required to.
Matchers provide their opinions on potential pairs and recommend introductions for users they believe would be a good couple. Pairs who receive high “Social Matching scores” are then introduced to each other on the app, and each person decides whether to match and start a conversation.
You can be on Rivet solely as a Dater, Kapoor continued, though the app encourages Daters to participate in matching others.
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Gen Z and millennials said they’d be interested in helping someone they don’t personally know find a potential romantic match (if they can do so anonymously, and the pair themselves made the final decision), according to a national survey of over 2,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Rivet.
And some prizes can sweeten the deal, too. Matchers can receive rewards for helping people find love, according to Rivet’s website. “Match a pair that you think will click or call a mismatch, and you earn Karma. Karma gets you bragging rights and can be redeemed for rewards,” it states.
Currently, reaching 15,000 Karma with a strong MQ (Matcher Quotient, the app’s way of displaying a Matcher’s thoughtfulness and accuracy) can be redeemed for $30 equivalent in cash or gift cards, Kapoor said. The team is working on making more reward and redemption options available soon.
Those with high MQ might also be bestowed as Elite Matchers.
In addition to the app, Rivet also hosts live events, such as a dating show in New York City in early Oct.
More dating apps are adding AI — meaning, more algorithms — and Rivet is bucking the trend. It’s now available for free on iOS and Android.
