If you’re single in Denver, you’ve probably heard that dating in the Mile High City is hard. Well, good news. Colorado is home to several dating apps and services, including a few that launched within the last year.
Before digging into why dating apps are choosing Colorado as their headquarters, let’s look at the number of single people who live here.
According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data available, 49.6% of the state’s population ages 15 and older are single. This includes people who haven’t been married before, have been divorced or are widowed. The state with the highest rate of singles is New Mexico (57.1%) and Utah is the lowest (44.7%). Across the U.S. the number of singles sits at 46.4%, according to census data.
Compared to the rest of the U.S., Colorado’s dating pool falls somewhere in the middle, in terms of the number of singles living here.
The number of singles living in the Centennial State and the local tech ecosystem are some reasons why Coloradans are launching their own dating apps.
Although Denver and Boulder’s dating app scene doesn’t compare to Texas, with big names like Bumble, Match Group (owners of Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid and Hinge) and Thread, a handful of local tech-based companies are serving the single community.
Boulder-based TruuBlue, a dating app for “socially progressive” singles, launched in September.
Referencing blue, which is associated with the Democratic Party, TruuBlue is intended for progressives, but everyone is welcome, startup CEO and founder Dennis Hefter previously told Colorado Inno. When users sign up on the app, they are asked to rank their stance on various topics like gun control and climate change.
Hefter, who lives in Boulder, started TruuBlue in Colorado as a proof of concept. The startup expects to raise a Series A round before expanding to other U.S. cities.
Shift also recently launched in Denver. Although not a dating app, Shift is a web-based matchmaking service and in-person social club for area singles 21 and older. New users answer a comprehensive questionnaire and Shift matchmakers use software to show which users are most compatible with one another based on their answers.
Justin Broadbent, founder of Shift, has lived in Colorado for nearly 14 years and grew tired of the dating scene through apps like Tinder.
“I’ve experienced the goods and bads of dating apps,” he said. “After years of that, it’s kind of led to more of a frustration, [asking] ‘Why am I on these dating apps?’ It’s really changed the whole culture of dating and not in a good way because people are talking to multiple people and it’s time-consuming and really frustrating. So I just kind of got sick of it.”
Broadbent tested a matchmaking service in Denver and Dallas, where he traveled frequently, but found the service was lacking connections in the Mile High City. So, he created and launched Shift in January. Shift now has 400 people in its database.
Another relatively new player in the space is Denver-based Dateability, a dating app designed for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. The app launched in October 2022.
Dateability is a web and mobile app that works similarly to other dating platforms but features a section called “Dateability Deets” where users can select words or phrases to describe their disability. This list ranges from “wheelchair user” and “permanent medical device” to uses a “service animal.”
Dateability has plans to roll out a platonic friendship iteration of the app in the future.
Sisters Jacqueline Child and Alexa Child, who live in Denver, launched Dateability in Colorado after recognizing how many locals valued adventurous qualities and wanted to go on hikes as dates. When they couldn’t find a dating app geared toward people with disabilities, they created their own.
Although it seems like Denver and Boulder have recently become a hub for tech-enabled dating platforms, Colorado’s dating app scene has a long history that reaches back at least 10 years.
MeetMindful, a Denver-based dating app connecting people who share interests in meditation, mindfulness, yoga and other hobbies, launched its beta in the Mile High City in 2014 before joining Techstars two years later.
MeetMindful founder Amy Baglan said she launched the app in the Denver metro because she had a community of like-minded people already gathering for events.
“The Denver, Boulder, Front Range area has such an active sort of wellness community, from the yoga community — which I was a really big part of back then — to a personal growth space, a spiritual community here and the general wellness-oriented outdoor enthusiast,” Baglan added. “There’s just a lot of folks who identify with that with that mindset and value set here in the area.”
She said the local tech scene also helped her learn how to build a tech-backed business.
Baglan sold MeetMindful to Mindful Inc. a few years ago. The app is still based in Denver, per LinkedIn.
Say Allo, a “relationship discovery” app, also launched in the early days of the Boulder and Denver dating app scene. Unpack’d Technologies rolled out Say Allo in 2017, and it continues to connect single adults who are interested in compatibility and serious relationships. (Say Allo brought Unpack’d CEO Zackary Lewis and his wife together.)
Unpack’d launched DiHola to serve the Hispanic and Latino market in 2021.
Lewis said he launched the two apps in Denver because he knows the local business scene well as a four-time founder. He also said Denver is “one of the best cities for single adults in the U.S.” and a great place to live and work.
“There’s certainly no shortage of dating apps that serve a wide variety of interests,” Lewis said. “There’s something for everyone.”
