Chalk one up for Jigsaw , an “anti-superficial” adult dating app that has scored £2. sete million ($3. 7 million) from seed funding to put toward U. S. expansion. The round will led by a lead generation company because of online dating companies, called The Relationship Corp., with backing from angel speculators in the U. S. and You. K. “primarily” in the tech campo.
As the startup’s reputation suggests, Jigsaw adds a little cryptic fun to the transactional business pointing to swiping photos of other finding love in search of dating chemistry in a put money to offer a less superficial experience.
Albeit their (patented) anti-superficial twist looks a tad gimmicky at first blush: They literally superimpose searching for jigsaw over the faces of drinkers, with pieces removed gradually the more you interact — and the n ull face only detected after a pre-set amount of in-app traité.
Digital filters are also prohibited, per the app’s FAQ ; they primary want “real” selfies. So nunca cute cat ears, etc .
They have a few more tricks up their drivepipe but don’t want to offer a public disclose of the planned features we thought were coming just yet (but, now, a quick glance at the app and that is basically a half finished jigsaw puzzle of their product roadmap).
The U. Alright. startup — which was founded to incorporate financing 2016 by a couple of friends, Alex Durrant (co-founder and CEO) then Max Adamski (co-founder and CPO), when they were at university (and finding the dating app scene confusingly superficial, as they tell it, applying quit their jobs and go all in on the project in 2018) — launched its puzzle-faced romance experience in London in 2019; and also opened up to the U. S. with November last year.
Jigsaw has some 150, 000+ registered users athwartships those two markets at this point, containing 50, 000 in the U. South. — and an appetite that would step things up over the pond that they’re flush with new payments.
Durrant says the gang is hoping to hit half a million United. S. users in the next six months. And they reckon there’s a trend as part of your less superficial swiping in the National dating app scene that Jigsaw is well-positioned to tap into.
“We’re not insane as think people look better with vague ideas over their faces, I contract, the puzzle is our middle east finger to the superficial dating industry, ” he says. “It exists as you may say to encourage more meaningful/sustained relationships and to help users look surreal to the looks. ”
Currently, Jigsaw’s face-shielding mechanism will take a puzzle made up of 16 gear. All photos start with one one removed “so you get a sneak peek”. Another then comes off every time a user likes (matches with) the subject so at the start of chatting discover two pieces revealed.
More pieces are removed beeing the pair mutually exchange messages to the point there’s no more puzzle bits quit. Hopefully you also won’t run out of all conversation at that point.
“Over six messages each (12 living in total) is what we believe is the least needed for a meaningful conversation, ” says Durrant. “That’s why some jigsaw puzzle currently unveils really after seven messages are sold back (14 pieces revealed in total), revealing the face underneath. This sum has been tested and this is the timely sweet spot for our users. ”
Jigsaw isn’t outstanding in the concept of shielding facial looks to encourage dating app individual consumers to do more chatting and less obnoxious swiping. There are a whole bunch of “slower reveal” style twists aimed at lowers “dating app fatigue” — an additional app, INYN , which also limits the speed of the profile reveal, puts it.
Another app which blurs users’ photos until they do a couple chatting is Taffy . There’s also Muslim matchmaking app Veil — which uses a “digital veil” feature (aka an opaque filter) that it refers to all profile photos, male and female, until a mutual match fabricated.
Other “anti-superficial” escort apps, like Willow , try a Q& A topic approach — getting users to respond questions to see more photos. Other great tales.
Still, Jigsaw has come up with perhaps the most visually recognizable (and gamified) twist on this slow-reveal format. And being so perfect away, well, obvious, it might make his “slow reveal” twist stick for longer than the average “love is blind” alternative dating app.
Its seed investment is not which entails buying users, either. We made sure to check.
The Relationship Corp. does offer user acquisition/traffic generation treatment to dating apps — which includes those it invests in — inside Jigsaw’s case the investment is an accomplished straight equity investment, per Durrant. So it’s at least sounding rest assured in its ability to grow.
“They’re super low-key but are well known in the industry, ” says Durrant of lead seed investor. “Steve Happas their CEO is ex-Match and… sits on our advisory board [as part of the investment]. We had an option to work with in order that acquire users but instead, they are confirming our internal team in an deliberative capacity. ”
