SingldOut, the platform that uses genetic chemistry to determine a romantic match, has just announced that it has closed a $600k seed round.
The round lends much more credibility to the formerly bootstrapped company, which is taking a markedly different and perhaps less understood approach to the dating space.
The idea behind SingldOut is that users take a personality quiz, which the company describes as “highly accurate”, as well as a swab of DNA which is sent back to SingldOut. With the help of a partner company called Instant Chemistry, SingldOut can look at specific parts of the genetic code, including the Human Leukocyte Antigen system and the serotonin transporter gene, which play a role in determining romantic compatibility.
Three genes within the HLA system are said to be crucial to biological compatibility, affecting the makeup of our immune system as well as the pheromones we put off in the world. According to Instant Chemistry, the pheromonal attraction we experience to other people is actually our instincts informing us of who has a different immune system (on a genetic level) than we do.
The serotonin transporter gene, on the other hand, decides how you associate between negative and positive emotional behavior, essentially measuring the way that people deal with stress, how emotionally they respond to things, etc.
“The biggest challenge for SingldOut so far has been to ensure that the right talent is onboard,” said cofounder and CEO Jana Bayad. “As a tech startup, locating creative and sophisticated engineers and strategists who connect with our vision is not simple. But as we all know unique situations call for unique solutions, so we decided to connect with highly talented people in multiple tech and non-tech verticals to participate in the creation and execution process.”
Alongside the new financing, SingldOut has also revamped its website and sent out DNA kits to members participating in the beta phase the past six months.
The funding comes from an undisclosed group of investors, but we were able to confirm that the funding is not related to any revenue coming in from memberships. The beta period, which launched in July, has also come to a close with today’s announcement.