Fed up with the endless, soul-crushing cycle of swiping on apps like Tinder and Hinge, Gen Z is turning to a new solution: Ditto. Founded by former UC Berkeley students Allen Wang and Eric Liu, the platform ditches traditional profiles for an AI-driven matchmaking service that coordinates real-world meetings every Wednesday at 7 p.m., eliminating the need for awkward digital small talk.
The End of Digital Small Talk
“As Gen Z ourselves, we were firsthand witnessing the behavioral shift in terms of how people are connecting with each other,” Wang told TechCrunch. “We see that people are getting super tired of all the endless swiping and endless small talk, and they’re really looking for something more genuine in real life.”
Instead of a typical app, college students can sign up for Ditto by texting a certain iMessage number, along with a code. Then an AI chatbot introduces itself as Ditto, “a dating initiative built by college students who get it … no swiping, no awkward DMs, just real dates every Wednesday at 7 pm.”
How the Algorithm Predicts Chemistry
Users navigate an onboarding process via text, providing biographical details and answering specific questions about personality and preferences. Some even share photos of celebrity crushes to help the AI refine its understanding of their “type.”
Rather than matching based on surface-level interests, Ditto’s algorithm digs deeper into what those hobbies reveal about a person’s character. “If there’s this guy, and he’s really into rock climbing, skydiving, and outdoor sports, and this girl, if she’s into hip hop, streetwear, and skateboarding, then even though those hobbies don’t look similar on the surface, I can tell you deeper down, both are very adventurous; maybe they’re very individualistic,” Wang explained. “So that’s actually the core reason why people will find chemistry with each other, and so basically our claim is that chemistry is actually predictable with the right signals.”
Every Wednesday at 7 p.m., the platform delivers a match, a time, and a location. “It comes with the person, it comes with a time, it comes with a location, and the users simply just need to show up and date each other and come back. We’ll collect more feedback about the date, and then improve our understanding of the user, and send them to a better next date,” Wang said. “Right now people’s goal is really just to go out there and meet each other, so it’s actually removing a lot of friction for our users, so that we are doing the heavy lifting for them, and they just simply go there and then meet whoever.”
Scaling and Safety in the Dating Landscape
Ditto has already secured 150,000 signups, with roughly 20% of matches resulting in an actual date—a figure the founders suggest is significantly higher than industry standards on apps like Tinder. The service uses a collage-style graphic to introduce matches, leaning into a popular Gen Z aesthetic.
Safety remains a priority as the startup expands. Currently, Ditto is limited to a few dozen college campuses, requiring a .edu email address for verification. With $9.2 million in seed funding from investors including Gradient, Peak XV, and Scribble, the company is focused on scaling safely beyond the collegiate environment.
Wang noted that interest from investors has been organic. “99% of the investors just reached out to us through inbound, because we were pretty big on LinkedIn and Twitter for a bit. Even Duolingo’s co-founder Severin [Hacker] reached out to me saying, ‘Hey, love your mission, I really like what you do, let’s hop on a call.’”
To maintain its growth, Ditto has leaned into irreverent marketing, such as robot stunts, and even maintains a job listing for a “chief yacht officer” to manage promotional events.
“Our users are college students, and they can smell corporate marketing from a mile away,” Wang said. “But the stunts are the top of the funnel, not the product … Viral moments get college kids to look; a good first date is what makes them stay.”
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