Hinge. The alternative is owned.
Hinge's founder has left to launch an AI dating app, and Hinge's owner is funding it. They own every dating app you might switch to.
THE GIST ON HINGE: "The alternative is owned"
What has Match Group done?
Hinge is owned by Match Group, which also owns Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and about 12 others. Basically every online dating platform anyone has heard of.
Last week they announced they were funding Overtone, an AI-powered, anti-swiping dating app built by the guy who founded Hinge.
Why fund your own killer?
Because the model is under threat and they know swiping is over. It's 15 years old and everyone's tired of it. Voice and AI are coming next, whether they like it or not.
So they've done the smartest thing they could. They've paid the guy who built Hinge to build the thing that will kill it. That way, when swiping dies, they still have you.
How do they own your whole life?
Tinder catches you at 22. Hinge picks you up at 28. Match.com at 40, when Hinge stops working. OurTime at 55. Every dating app, every version of your dating self, they own. Overtone just plugs the last gap in your mid-30s.
Is there an outside?
That's how modern monopolies work. Despite what threatens them, they fund it. The same trick runs in every big consumer category: independent beauty owned by L'Oreal, punk beer owned by AB InBev. The alternative always ends up being the internal option.
There's not really an outside any more. The choice we think we're making is picked from a menu written by the people we were trying to leave. Have you actually managed to leave?
Is swiping dead?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Who owns Hinge?
Match Group, which also owns Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and about 12 others.
What is Overtone?
An AI-powered, anti-swiping dating app built by Hinge's founder and funded by Match Group.
Why would Match Group fund it?
Huw says swiping is over, so by funding the thing that kills it, Match Group still owns you.
See you on the next one.
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The conversation
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