Former Tinder Executive Launches Matchmaking Voting App
Former Tinder and Match Group executive Taru Kapoor has launched a dating app called Rivet, which replaces solo swiping with voting by strangers. She co-founded it with former CarDekho used car business head Rajat Sahni in 2025, and it opened to U.S. users on October 8.
The system first matches candidates based on preferences, interests, and dating intentions. Volunteer matchmakers see both parties' personalities, relationship goals, and an AI-generated photo of the two together, voting with a pink heart for approval and a silver cross for disapproval. Only high-scoring combinations will be formally introduced, and individuals can still view complete profiles before deciding to connect or skip. Voting is anonymous, and the parties cannot see who approved or rejected.
All daters are also matchmakers, but they do not have to date themselves; friends and so-called Elite Matchers can also participate. Successful introductions accumulate in-app currency called Karma, which can be exchanged for profile privileges, direct introductions, cash, or gift cards, with redemption depending on company conditions. If not matched, sending a message costs 1,000 Karma points, and a package of 3,000 points is priced at $9.99.
The seed round raised $10.5 million, funded by Peak XV Partners, Shine Capital, and Blume Ventures. Peak XV is the entity formed after the split of Sequoia India and Southeast Asia operations, not her previous employer. Former Tinder and OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman is an early investor and advisor in product development. Kapoor has spent nearly a decade at Tinder and other Match Group brands, covering markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
She told the New York Post that even without knowing the two people, helping them find each other would be unexpectedly joyful. The official slogan is "People Understand Chemistry Better Than Algorithms." The introduction rights remain with users, and matchmakers only contribute social matching scores.
The buyers are single users tired of swiping and matchmakers looking to earn Karma, while the sellers are the number of introductions. The event is driven by swiping fatigue, with funds first entering the seed round and then being recouped through Karma packages. The beneficiaries are new applications that turn manual screening into points, while the old matching pools relying on unlimited swiping for membership face pressure. Unmatched private messages are priced separately, indicating that introductions are scarce and initiating contact still incurs a fee.
During the same period, Bumble announced it would replace swiping with an AI assistant called Bee in some markets and eliminate the rule requiring women to speak first in heterosexual matches; its revenue for Q3 2025 fell by 10%, and paid users dropped by 16% to 3.6 million. Ditto, targeting college students, uses a text message bot for matching and claims to have 150,000 registrations, with about 20% of matches going on dates.
Source: Public Information
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Kapoor is selling the opposite of what she experienced at Tinder. She served as a multi-market general manager at Match Group for nearly a decade, where swiping, memberships, and unlimited candidate pools were the revenue layers of the original company. Rivet was founded in 2025 with Rajat Sahni, securing $10.5 million in seed funding from Peak XV, Shine, and Blume in September 2026, with former Tinder and OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman both investing and advising. The person who managed swiping products has now become the founder creating an alternative entry for swiping products.
Resources are not invested in a larger recommendation model but in voting labor. AI only generates the shared photo and initial pairing, while the pink hearts and silver crosses are voted on by matchmakers, with only high scores leading to introductions. Karma converts successful introductions into privileges, gift cards, or cash, with unmatched private messages costing 1,000 points each and a 3,000-point package priced at $9.99. The motivation is that the swiping pool has become too cheap, and introductions must be made expensive again; matchmakers are zero-salary screeners, with cash rewards only redeemable when company conditions are met.
Analogies include Hinge turning friend reviews into Friend's Take and Bumble using assistant Bee to replace swiping. Rivet is in an expansion phase: the U.S. side only opened on October 8, and it has not yet publicly reported retention or dating conversion rates. Ditto has gained 150,000 registrations with about 20% of matches going on dates, taking the opposite approach by minimizing human involvement. Rivet brings people back in, but they are counted by the piece.
This represents a shift in pricing power. Old applications charged daters based on membership duration, with unlimited candidates. Rivet hands the first screening over to matchmakers and then sells the right to initiate contact back based on Karma. The mechanism breaks down compatibility judgment into votable tasks, with voters being bought with cash or points, and daters using points to purchase messages that bypass matching. Algorithms no longer monopolize introduction rights, and introduction rights become a stock that can be paid for and sold off.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Swiping is too cheap, so introductions are repriced.
Crowd voting seems like helping, but it’s piecework.
Matching is free; initiating contact goes to the cash register.