According to John Stringfellow, online dating is broken. But he thinks he may have an app to fix it.
Stringfellow, a member of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and 1871 Latinx Incubator, is the co-founder of a new dating app called CIND (pronounced cin-dee), which stands for “chivalry is not dead.”
CIND’s model is similar to other dating apps, such as Tinder or Bumble, in the fact that users swipe left or right on people they wish to match with. The difference with CIND is that to match with someone, the user has to first send them a virtual gift, which is eventually donated to charity.
“We’re purposefully putting in a barrier to entry because we want people to have a little skin in the game,” Stringfellow said. “We want to make people conscientious swipers.”
The idea is that people will approach their online dating matches more seriously when they've paid to get them.
Users can choose from a number of virtual gifts, which includes a rose for $3. On the higher end, users can purchase virtual diamonds for $100, though as of press time, no one has purchased one. Users can also send cash to each other, but only up to $2. Otherwise, they must purchase one of the virtual gifts.
Once the gift has been sent, the receiver can choose to accept or deny it. If they accept it, CIND keeps 3 percent of the virtual gift’s cost and the rest goes to a charity of the receiver’s choice. There are 15 nonprofits on the platform to choose from. They range from Planned Parenthood to Habitat for Humanity.
“The people on our app feel a little bit better on it because sometimes you can feel creepy on Tinder and Bumble, but there’s almost like a pay-it-forward nature on our app in the sense that people usually feel good when they give a gift,” Stringfellow said. “It’s a dating app you feel a little bit better being a part of.”
Men can send gifts to women and vice versa, but Stringfellow said only female users have the option to “wink” for free at other users. Though winking doesn’t allow them to match with someone, the gesture is designed to let recipients know they are interested.
The app just launched on April 15, but already has more than 500 users, most of which are in Chicago, Stringfellow said. To help advertise the company, he is looking to raise a small seed funding round.
In addition to the 3 percent cut CIND takes from each transaction, Stringfellow said the company will eventually roll out a premium offering to help monetize the app. Tinder and Bumble both have premium options, which allow users to pay for “super likes,” unlimited likes and information about the people who have swiped on them.
