• 2 min read
Hinge founder Justin McLeod readies Overtone AI matchmaker
Justin McLeod says Overtone will launch later this year in select locations, backed by $18 million and a board that includes Spencer Rascoff and Esther Perel.
Image: Mashable
Justin McLeod, the founder of Hinge, has shared new details about Overtone, his next venture: an AI matchmaking service set to launch later this year in select locations. McLeod first announced he was leaving Hinge in Dec. 2025 to focus on the company, which is now taking waitlist signups.
McLeod is positioning Overtone as something different from a traditional dating app.
“Overtone is not a dating app. By that I mean it’s not a social platform with profiles that reduce people to stats, quotes and photos. There are no opaque, algorithmic feeds trained on split-second impulses. And there’s no juggling likes, matches and chats across many people at once.”
Instead, he describes Overtone as a service that will make only introductions “worth making” and explain why two people are a match. In his blog post, McLeod said he wants to revive matchmaking as a broader alternative to the high-end personal matchmakers that can cost thousands of dollars, citing the recent film Materialists as a cultural reference point.
Recommended reading
xAI open-sources Grok Build coding agent in Rust
He added that Overtone will combine the reach of modern networks with relationship science and a philosophy of limiting choice.
“But this time with the reach and diversity of modern networks, the collective wisdom of relationship science, and the conviction that when it comes to options, all you need is less™.”
The company also disclosed $18 million in funding from FirstMark Capital, Pace Capital, and Match Group, the dating-app owner that also owns Hinge. Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff has joined Overtone’s board, alongside Diana Chapman, founder of The Signal Institute, and relationship psychotherapist Esther Perel, who partnered with Hinge last year.
Overtone will enter a market where enthusiasm for AI-driven dating remains mixed. Earlier this year, Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said the company would move away from swiping and toward an AI matchmaker, a shift that drew a largely negative online reaction. Other startups already working in the space include Sitch Matchmaking and Ditto AI.
Computing Editor
Tomas lives in the terminal. He covers chips, laptops, and operating systems with a focus on performance and efficiency. He reads kernel changelogs the way other people read fiction, and he's always on the hunt for the perfect mechanical keyboard switch. If it processes data, Tomas has an opinion on it.
via Mashable
