Gen Z dating apps like Ditto ditch swiping for AI matchmaking

This wave of young adults has grown so weary of swipe-driven dating platforms that they are willing to experiment with virtually any alternative, including AI-powered matchmaking. Following their departure from UC Berkeley, Ditto co-founders Allen Wang and Eric Liu embarked on a mission to create a solution that enables their peers to form connections without sacrificing hours each week to the chaotic nature of apps like Tinder and Hinge.

“As members of Gen Z, we directly observed a shift in how people interact,” Wang explained to TechCrunch. “We noticed that users are exhausted by endless swiping and superficial small talk, seeking instead more authentic interactions in the real world.”

Rather than a conventional application, college students can join Ditto by texting a specific iMessage number along with a unique code. An AI chatbot then introduces itself as Ditto, describing the platform as “a dating initiative created by college students who understand the struggle… no swiping, no awkward direct messages, just real dates every Wednesday at 7 pm.”

Image Credits:Ditto (opens in a new window)

Users navigate an onboarding process via text, beginning with basic biographical details such as name, gender, and birth date. Ditto then asks more targeted questions to gauge personality, interests, and dating preferences. Some users even upload photos of their celebrity crushes to help the AI understand their type.

The Ditto algorithm prioritizes matching people based not on shared hobbies, but on what those interests reveal about their character.

“Consider a guy passionate about rock climbing, skydiving, and outdoor sports, and a girl interested in hip hop, streetwear, and skateboarding,” Wang noted. “While these hobbies may seem unrelated on the surface, I can identify that both are highly adventurous and likely individualistic. This deeper alignment is what fosters chemistry, and our core premise is that chemistry can be predicted with the right data signals.”

Every Wednesday at 7 p.m., Ditto notifies users of their match for the week.

“The notification includes the person’s details, a specific time, and a location. Users simply need to show up, date, and return,” Wang said. “We gather feedback on the date to refine our understanding of the user, helping them find better matches in the future. Our goal is to eliminate friction by handling the heavy lifting, allowing users to simply meet whoever they are paired with.”

Image Credits:Ditto (opens in a new window)

Ditto has accumulated 150,000 signups. According to Wang, approximately 20% of matches facilitated by Ditto result in an actual date. (If that figure seems low, you have likely never used Tinder.)

Ditto generates a collage-style graphic to introduce users to one another and explain the basis for their compatibility—a visual style popular among Gen Z that other connection apps founded by young entrepreneurs, such as Sonder, have also adopted.

With any dating application, particularly one that minimizes the time between matching and meeting, safety can be a concern: is the person you are meeting truly who they claim to be? Currently, as Ditto operates at only a few dozen colleges, it includes a built-in verification process ensuring that users are students at your university with a .edu email address. Ditto is focused on expanding to more institutions—and eventually beyond college campuses—while maintaining safety standards. This is a difficult challenge even for established, well-funded dating apps, but Ditto has secured $9.2 million in seed funding from investors including Gradient, Peak XV, and Scribble.

Wang stated, “99% of our investors reached out to us through inbound interest, as we were quite active on LinkedIn and Twitter. Even Duolingo’s co-founder, Severin Hacker, contacted me, saying, ‘Hey, I love your mission and really like what you’re doing. Let’s hop on a call.’”

Ditto has built this reputation through unconventional marketing, such as videos featuring robot stunts. Now based in San Francisco, Ditto employs twelve full-time staff members and is also hiring a “Chief Yacht Officer” to host promotional parties (yes, this is a legitimate job listing).

“Our users are college students, and they can detect corporate marketing from a mile away,” Wang said. “However, these stunts are merely the top of the funnel, not the product itself… Viral moments attract college students’ attention, but a good first date is what keeps them engaged.”