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Taru Kapoor
Rivet, a community-driven dating network built around human-powered “social matching”, has raised $10.5 million, about Rs 100.6 crore, in seed funding from Peak XV Partners, Shine Capital and Blume Ventures as it expands across the US.
The startup announced the funding alongside its nationwide US launch on 24 September.
Rivet said the investment will be used for product development, distribution and expansion across the US. The startup has an office in Delhi NCR, with much of its engineering and machine learning team based in India, according to media reports.
Founded in 2025 by former Tinder and Match Group executive Taru Kapoor and Rajat Sahni, who previously led CarDekho’s used-car business, Rivet has built its dating platform around recommendations from other people.
It calls the approach “social matching”.
Users can join the platform as “matchers”, who assess potential pairs and recommend introductions they believe could work.
Those recommendations contribute to what Rivet calls a Social Matching score. Pairs that receive high scores are introduced, after which each person independently decides whether they want to connect and start a conversation.
People who are not looking for a relationship themselves can also use Rivet solely as matchers, helping recommend potential connections for other users.
The startup describes this as a “give-to-get” approach, where members can help others find potential matches while also benefiting from recommendations made by the wider community.
Rivet is free to download on iOS and Android. The platform is a product of New York-based MeantToBe Inc.
Rivet’s model is based on the idea that human recommendations can identify potential connections that people might overlook on conventional dating apps.
“Dating has always been social,” Kapoor said in the company’s launch announcement, adding that while dating apps had significantly widened the pool of people users could meet, the process had also become “transactional and isolating”.
Rivet is attempting to address that by involving other people in the process rather than relying solely on individuals browsing and evaluating profiles themselves.
Its approach is designed to combine technology with human judgement, with matchers assessing whether two people may be compatible before an introduction is made. The individuals involved still make the final decision on whether to connect.
Rivet also counts Elie Seidman, the former CEO of Tinder and OkCupid, among its early investors. Seidman advised and mentored Kapoor during Rivet’s development, according to the startup.
Kapoor spent nearly a decade working on Tinder and other Match Group brands across the US, Europe and Asia before founding Rivet.
Sahni, meanwhile, previously held senior roles at CarDekho, including leading its used-car business.
It is entering an established online dating market that includes platforms such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, while other services have also experimented with involving friends or communities in matchmaking.
Rivet is taking a different approach by making community participation central to the product. Users can take part even if they are not looking for a date themselves, while potential matches are introduced only after receiving support from matchers and are free to decide independently whether to connect.
With the $10.5 million seed round, Rivet is now looking to develop its product, expand distribution and scale its platform following its nationwide US launch.
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