Kippo Raises $2 Million for a Dating App for Gamers and Honestly Its About Time
okay so someone finally made a dating app specifically for gamers and it just got $2 million in funding which. yeah. about time honestly. its called Kippo and ive been poking around it for a few days now
the basic premise is that gamers already know how to make connections online?? like thats literally what we do. you join a discord, you find people to raid with, you spend 6 months playing with the same group every thursday and suddenly theyre your actual friends. the idea that this wouldnt work for dating is kind of ridiculous when you think about it for more than 30 seconds
and yet every dating app before this has been like “meet up immediately! get coffee! go outside!” as if thats the only valid way to connect with another human being. some of us are comfortable behind a screen first okay
how its actually different
so on Kippo you make a profile with your favorite games (obviously), your myers briggs type if youre into that, your hogwarts house (gryffindor btw dont @ me), and theres even these pokemon-style cards for your pets which is honestly adorable and i hate that i love it
the really interesting stat tho – 93% of kippo users go on a virtual date and play games together before meeting irl. ninety three percent! and instead of exchanging phone numbers like normal dating apps, 90% of people exchange their in-game names first. so if the date is terrible you dont have some weirdo with your actual phone number. smart
CEO David Park said something that stuck with me: “At the end of the day, the best environment to get people to be open to meet each other is one where theyre comfortable, and theyre having fun.” which like. yes. this is obvious??? why did it take this long for someone to figure this out
the timing is actually kind of perfect
okay so obviously the timing here is wild. dating app that encourages you to stay home and play video games together comes out right as everyones being told to stay home. usage is up 275% since quarantine started. revenue increasing 50% month over month. stonks
45,000 users after only 8 months with basically no marketing. 40% are women which is. actually really good? most gaming spaces are like 80/20 at best. the core demographic is 18-24 so younger than tinder or bumble
do we actually need this tho
i mean. yeah? kind of?
the whole “gamers are basement dwelling losers who cant find love” stereotype has always been garbage but its also affected how people think about meeting partners through games. like if you told someone 5 years ago “i met my girlfriend on league of legends” theyd look at you weird. (they still might tbh but less so)
kippo is basically saying “no actually this is a legitimate way to connect with people” and backing it with vc money which is. validating? i guess? capitalism says gamers deserve love now or whatever
the investors include some former tinder executives which is interesting. either they know what theyre doing or theyre hedging bets against their own product. or both. probably both
park says they want to make dating feel more like gaming – “positive reinforcement, unlocking achievements, leveling up.” and then he said “dating is a game where you only need to win once, right?” which is honestly pretty smooth for a startup ceo
anyway. kippos on ios now, android “coming soon” (which in startup time means anywhere between next month and never). if youve ever wanted to find someone who wont judge you for having 2000 hours in a single game this is probably for you
im not saying it’ll work for everyone but its nice that it exists. representation matters or whatever. even for chronically online gamers who just want someone to play stardew valley with at 2am
wait i should probably disclose that im single and have downloaded this app. for research. journalistic integrity and all that
