In an era where 80% of young singles want to get married but only 40% are projected to succeed, the gap between intent and outcome reveals a fundamental market failure in modern matchmaking. Dating apps generate billions in revenue by keeping users single through subscription models, while traditional matchmakers charge tens of thousands upfront with mediocre success rates barely above random chance. Keeper addresses this crisis by combining comprehensive psychometric analysis, collecting over 100 data points compared to the typical 5 questions from dating apps, with a business model where payment only occurs when users achieve lasting relationships. The company’s methodology produces a 1-in-10 success rate for first dates leading to marriage, compared to 1-in-10,000 on leading dating apps, while its proprietary AI analyzes matches across personality types, intelligence, values, and 800+ other compatibility factors. With over 1.5M signups during beta testing, Keeper has demonstrated market demand for matchmaking that prioritizes quality over quantity, and the company now uses AI to handle 95% of the matching process while human experts provide final verification.
AlleyWatch sat down with Keeper CEO and Founder Jake Kozloski to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent funding round, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
It was pre-seed. We raised $4M led by Lightbank and Lakehouse Ventures with participation from Champion Hill Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and others.
Tell us about the product or service that Keeper offers.
Keeper is the AI matchmaker dedicated to finding every single person on Earth their soulmate. We focus on quality over quantity in the extreme with a business model that aligns the company’s incentives with user success – only profiting when users find a successful relationship. We go deep on psychometrics and relationship science, and our intake process is more in-depth than any dating app or matchmaker in history. We can match on any preference you have, and 1-in-10 Keeper first dates lead to marriage. This success rate is orders of magnitude greater than what anyone else has ever achieved.
What inspired the start of Keeper?
Loneliness is an epidemic. The vast majority of young singles want to get married and start families, but if current trends continue less than half will achieve that goal. We’ve seen our friends and loved ones struggle with this our entire adult lives. Society has become more atomized, dating apps fail to introduce you to people who are actually compatible, and peoples’ standards are higher than ever. The market is failing to clear and people are giving up. Measuring compatibility isn’t rocket science. When you know two people on a very deep level, it’s not that difficult to predict which pairings will happily marry and settle down.
How is Keeper different?
A dating app might ask you 5 questions to understand who you are. A matchmaker might ask 20 questions. Keeper asks over 100 questions – because people are complex and multi-faceted. Our business model is incentive-aligned so we never profit from keeping people single, like dating apps with their subscription-based models. We ask questions in open-ended format so you can tell us anything that matters to you, whether it’s a romantic preference, your thoughts on abortion, or what you like to do on a Friday night. Then we use AI to compare your answers to millions of other people, so we can find your single best match. Our user experience is gender-differentiated, because women and men care about different things in different proportions when it comes to dating. We only let you have one elite match at a time, and that match is someone who could very possibly be your soulmate.
What market does Keeper target and how big is it?
Single people looking for a serious long-term relationship. There are 40 million of them in the US alone, and over 2 billion on Earth. Matchmaking is a $1.5B market globally, with the opportunity to 10x with better technology and economies of scale.
What’s your business model?
Right now, we still have humans in the loop as a final filter before matches get offer, with the AI handling 95% of the sorting and filtering. The human is the most significant bottleneck in terms of cost and time.
Users can join for free to be matched with paying members – and if you’re in the pool as a free user it is completely free. Paying members are prioritized and can match with anyone in the pool. Paying members pay an average of $50,000, which they sign a contract for. That money is realized by the company when they find a relationship through Keeper that results in any of the following conditions being met:
A committed relationship of 18 months
12 months cohabitation
Marriage
Having a child together
Once the first one of those things happens, that is when the paying member pays.
We project that in Q3 of 2026, the AI will be good enough to where the human matchmaker can be removed from the process entirely. At this point, we will be able to cut prices substantially and move downmarket to a price point that is serviceable to just about anybody.
Where’s the best first date spot in New York?
Anywhere with good drinks, dim lighting, and not too loud to hold a conversation but not too quiet to make it feel like you can’t speak privately.
What was the funding process like?
No comment 🙂
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Dating apps are traditionally seen as a bad investment by VCs.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Belief that the market is much larger than current incumbents have been able to capture because they all fail to reliably make quality matches.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Scaling up our manual matchmaking a $2M run rate.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
As long as you believe in the business, just keep going. There is almost always another move left to make.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Becoming the one place on earth everyone goes when they are ready to get married.
What’s your favorite winter destination in and around the city?
Walking through the brownstones on a snowy day.
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