Ex-Tinder Executive's Rivet Raises $10.5 Million to Put People Back in Matchmaking

Rivet, a dating app founded by former Tinder and Match Group executive Taru Kapoor, launched nationwide in the U.S. on September 24 with $10.5 million in seed funding from Peak XV Partners, Shine Capital and Blume Ventures. Elie Seidman, the former CEO of Tinder and OkCupid, is an early investor. Rajat Sahni, formerly head of CarDekho's used-car business, is a co-founder, and the company's engineering and machine-learning teams are based in India.

The product inverts the usual order. Users are "matchmakers first, and, if they choose, daters second": they suggest pairings for other people, and once two users collect enough recommendations, both can review the match and decide whether to be introduced. Anyone can take part as a matchmaker, including people who are married or in relationships.

"I spent many years working in online dating, thinking what we were building was removing friction from meeting people," Kapoor told Inc. "Instead, we removed the people."

Rivet did not disclose user numbers from its early testing or its pricing.

Why it matters: Rivet joins Overtone and Ditto in this year's wave of apps, following Sitch in 2025, funded on the premise that the feed is the problem. Each replaces swiping with a different kind of curation: AI, paid matchmakers, or now friends and strangers. The open question for every one of them is the same. Curation is expensive and slow, and none has yet shown it can grow fast enough to support a venture-sized round.

Sources: Inc. · Inc42