The founder of Hinge raised $18M to build a new AI dating service, Overtone

Hinge founder Justin McLeod announced an $18 million fundraise for his new dating company, Overtone .

McLeod stepped down from his CEO role at Hinge just last year, and Hinge owner Match Group — which also owns apps like Tinder and OkCupid — is helping to fund his new company, alongside FirstMark Capital and Pace Capital.

While details on the company are limited at this point, Overtone describes itself as “a voice- and audio-forward service, enabled by AI, that provides highly curated introductions.”

“Overtone is not a dating app,” McLeod wrote in the blog post . “By that I mean it’s not a social platform with profiles that reduce people to stats, quotes and photos. There are no opaque, algorithmic feeds trained on split-second impulses. And there’s no juggling likes, matches and chats across many people at once.”

It may seem odd for the guy who created Hinge to disparage algorithmic feeds and swiping, but the dating industry at large is evolving with the realization that users are dissatisfied with the status quo. A Forbes Health survey conducted in 2024 found that 78% of dating app users felt burnt out. The survey’s 1,000 respondents reported that they spent about 51 minutes per day on dating apps, but this time investment did not often yield fulfilling connections.

Most dating apps are trying to improve the quality of their matchmaking through AI, offering AI-generated conversation starters or assistance building out profiles. But many people feel frustrated with the idea of delegating even more of this intimate process to computers. McLeod seems more interested in using AI to narrow down who might be a good match, as opposed to outsourcing actual conversations and connections.

“We get to know each person deeply, learning about them in their own voice, hearing their own unique story,” McLeod wrote. “And we make only the introductions that are worth making, grounded in relationship science and thoughtful reflection. We transparently explain why we believe someone is a great match.”

Other new apps like Ditto and Date Drop are betting on a similar approach, using AI to pair users up, rather than putting everyone in a pool to swipe on one another, creating the illusion of endless choice and a hotbed for ghosting.

Overtone will be available later this year, but only in certain locations. In addition to its fundraise, the company also announced that relationship expert Esther Perel has joined the board alongside Match CEO Spencer Rascoff and leadership advisor Diana Chapman.

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Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.

You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing amanda@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.

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