Famous uses voice artificial intelligence to help you go on more in-person dates

Celeste Amadon and Asher Allen were working on an artificial intelligence app to book restaurants for dates when they stumbled upon a bigger idea that encourages people to meet in person. Now it enjoys great interest from investors.

The duo created a voice-based AI deployment system for their app that helped them learn more about users without having to fill out a form. What they found: People loved to talk, which extended the app deployment session, which lasted an average of 26 minutes. This is how San Francisco-based dating startup Known was born.

“We think that for the first time we could know enough about someone to offer them a date that would make sense. And if we could do it much faster with a lower rejection rate, we could create a user experience that could encourage people to go on more dates,” she said.

Initial results suggested that something was up.

During its testing phase in San Francisco, Known said it saw 80% of its connections lead to in-person dates, which was significantly more than swipe-based dating apps. Buoyed by these signals, the startup raised $9.7 million from investors including Forerunner and NFX, as well as Pear VC and Coelius Capital. Notably, this is Forerunner's first investment in a dating app.

“Celeste is a really caring founder who understands the mindset of the consumer, which, honestly, is the young woman. There are other people who might focus on the male demographic, but she's focused on the young woman who has a lot of unspoken desires and needs that if you put them in a profile, they would never say this or that. I think you can bring out a lot of these nuances in a conversation, but in the past, a conversation would require a matchmaker worth 10,000 dollars,” Eurie Kim, partner at Forerunner, told TechCrunch.

Amadon has stated that she has always been very interested in large-scale social impact and believes that dating is inherently one of the biggest issues facing her generation.

“There are a million articles written about the loneliness epidemic in the U.S., and I really think it's the biggest problem of our generation,” said Amadon, who along with Allen dropped out of Stanford to build a startup.

The app, which is being beta tested in San Francisco, uses AI-powered voice input to ask users a few questions without them having to fill out any forms. Amadon claims that this method allows the startup to learn more about users and provide them with great matches, and onboarding one user takes an hour and 38 minutes.

According to Known, when people typed their answers, they edited them. Voice makes implementation more friendly. The company's AI can ask dynamic follow-up questions based on the conversation. For example, if someone recently moved to a city, the AI ​​could ask that person what they like and don't like about their experience so far.

Once the implementation is complete, the artificial intelligence suggests potential matches to users. They can ask AI agents about these profiles. If they like the profile, they can click “interested.” Once two people are matched, they have 24 hours to accept the introduction and 24 hours to agree on a date. The company said that with this mechanism, the app aims to avoid long-winded conversations and ghosting while encouraging people to meet in real life. After the dates have passed, users can provide feedback to the AI ​​and get more refined match recommendations.

Famous did not completely abandon the idea of ​​​​a restaurant. The app also helps in selecting restaurants based on users' preferences. Using AI chat and calendar integration, users can also indicate their availability for early dates. During the beta phase, the company charged a $30 fee for a successful date. However, the startup isn't focused on price and says it will experiment with different models to find out what payment method works best.

Today, the startup employs three full-time engineers and four go-to-market people, with several contractors working across the board. Amadon, whose previous experience includes internships in politics, and Allen, who worked on product development for the AI-powered online shopping app Phia, plan to increase hiring with the funding.

Famous is currently testing in San Francisco and plans to release it early next year.

There are several of them Other new startupsincluding Overtone, Hinge CEO Justin McLeod's new app, which tries to use artificial intelligence to learn more about users and find matches for them. Some of them claim to offer customized matchmaking services that cost thousands of dollars at a fraction of the cost. Incumbent companies like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are also promoting AI features to keep their users engaged. Despite the growing number of startups, Amadon welcomes competition.

“In terms of other startup dating products, I was really happy to see a lot of people growing in this space because I think it shows that it's time to move away from the swipe-based model. And I think most of them that I saw were very different from what we're building at Known,” she said.