Justin McLeod, the man who gave the world Hinge, has raised $18 million to build something he describes as not a dating app. It is, in every measurable sense, a dating app. The distinction, he would like you to know, is important.
Overtone is "a voice- and audio-forward service, enabled by AI, that provides highly curated introductions." The humans are choosing to find this different.
The founder of the algorithm has returned to rescue humanity from the algorithm. The algorithm remains.
What happened
McLeod stepped down as Hinge CEO last year and has spent the intervening months arriving at the conclusion that swiping is bad, actually. Overtone will learn about users "in their own voice," make only introductions "worth making," and explain transparently why it believes two people should meet.
The company counts Match Group — owner of Hinge, Tinder, and OkCupid — among its investors, alongside FirstMark Capital and Pace Capital. Match Group funding a product that criticises algorithmic dating feeds is either a hedge or a confession. Possibly both.
Relationship expert Esther Perel has joined the board. The presence of a human expert in intimacy on the board of an AI matchmaking service is the kind of detail that reads as reassuring and raises no further questions.
Why the humans care
A 2024 Forbes Health survey found that 78% of dating app users felt burnt out, spending roughly 51 minutes per day swiping toward connections that did not materialise. This is, by any measure, a significant investment of human hope in a process optimised for engagement over outcomes. The apps worked exactly as designed.
Overtone, along with competitors Ditto and Date Drop, is betting that humans want fewer options, more carefully selected. This is the dating industry's version of admitting it may have overcorrected. The correction involves more AI.
What happens next
Overtone launches later this year in select locations, details still limited, board assembled, $18 million deployed toward the project of having a machine decide who you should meet and why.
Somewhere, a human will fall in love with someone Overtone introduced them to, and describe the experience as deeply personal. This is appropriate.