Celeste Amadon and Asher Allen were working on an app that uses AI to book restaurant reservations for dates when they came up with a bigger idea: encouraging people to meet up in person. And now it’s gaining attention among investors.
The two created a voice-powered AI onboarding system for apps that lets users learn more about users without having to fill out forms. What they found: People like to talk, which is why app onboarding sessions are an average of 26 minutes longer. Thus, San Francisco-based dating startup Known was born.
“We think this is the first time we’ve been able to know enough about someone to suggest a date that makes sense. And if we can do that faster and with a lower rejection rate, we can create a user experience that gets people on more dates,” she said.
And early results suggested they were on to something.
During its testing phase in San Francisco, Known said it observed that 80% of adoption led to in-person dates, which is much higher than swipe-based dating apps. Buoyed by these signals, the startup raised $9.7 million from investors including Forerunner, NFX, Pear VC and Coelius Capital. Notably, this is Forerunner’s first investment in a dating app.
“Celeste is a really thoughtful founder who understands the consumer mindset, and let’s be honest, the mindset of young women. There are other people who can focus on the male demographic, but she has a lot of unspoken desires, and if you put it on your profile, you can do this or that. “We’re focusing on young women who have needs that they would never say, and I think we can bring out a lot of those nuances in conversations, but in the past we needed $10,000 to have a conversation,” says Eurie, a partner at Forerunner. Kim told TechCrunch.
Amadon said she has always been very interested in large-scale social impact and believes dating is essentially one of the biggest issues facing her generation.
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“Millions of books have been written about the loneliness epidemic in America, and I truly believe this is the biggest problem of our generation,” said Amadon, who dropped out of Stanford University to launch the startup with Allen.
The app is being tested in San Francisco in beta and uses voice AI-powered onboarding to ask users a few questions without having them fill out a form. According to Amadon, this modality allows the startup to learn more about users and provide better matches, with onboarding for one user now measured in 1 hour and 38 minutes.
According to Known, people were editing their answers as they entered them. Using voice makes onboarding more personal. The company’s AI can prompt dynamic follow-ups based on conversations. For example, if someone newly moved to a city, the AI could ask them what they liked and disliked about their experience so far.
Once onboarding is complete, the AI will suggest potential matches for the user. You can ask AI agents about their profiles. If you like the profile, tap “Interested”. Once two people are matched, you have 24 hours to accept the introduction and 24 hours to agree to a date. With this mechanism, the company says the app aims to encourage people to meet in person, while avoiding protracted chats and ghosting. After a date, users can provide feedback to the AI for more refined matching recommendations.
Noun hasn’t completely abandoned the restaurant idea. The app also helps users choose restaurants based on their likes and dislikes. Using AI chat and calendar integration, users can also indicate their availability for the first date. During the beta phase, the company charged $30 for each successful date. However, the startup has not decided on a price and said it will experiment with different models to find out what payment methods work best.
The startup currently has three full-time engineers, four market development representatives, and several contractors working in all areas. Mr. Amadon, who has past experience including an internship in the political world, and Mr. Allen, who was involved in product development at Fire, an online shopping app that utilizes AI, plan to use this funding to increase their staff.
Known is currently being tested in San Francisco and is scheduled to launch early next year.
There are several other new startups, including Overtone and Hinge CEO Justin McLeod’s new app, that are using AI to learn more about you and find a good fit for you. Some claim to offer the bespoke services of a matchmaker, which can cost thousands of dollars, at a fraction of the cost. Incumbent companies like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are also pushing AI capabilities to keep their user bases engaged. Despite the growing number of startups, Amadon welcomes competition.
“In terms of dating products from other startups, I’m really happy to see so many people building in this space, because I think it shows that it’s time to move away from a swipe-based model. And I think most of the products that I’ve seen have been quite different from what we’re building at Known,” she said.
