We built the dating
app we wished
existed

SpeedDate started with a simple frustration: most online dating feels transactional, exhausting, and fake. We wanted something that felt like actually meeting people — live, spontaneous, and real.

✨ Try it yourself Meet the team →
12k+
Participants to date
3,400+
Mutual matches made
74%
Average match rate
4.9★
Average event rating

Dating apps broke
something important

They turned human connection into a catalogue. Swipe left, swipe right. A photo and a bio reduced to a split-second judgment. Hundreds of matches that never turn into conversations.

We think the problem isn't the people — it's the format. When you give two humans five minutes and a reason to talk, something almost always happens. Curiosity kicks in. Walls come down. You find out the person on the other end is interesting, funny, surprising.

"The best dates don't start with a perfect profile. They start with a real conversation."

SpeedDate is our attempt to bring that back — the feeling of actually meeting someone. No swiping. No ghosting. No weeks of messaging before a first call. Just people, talking, five minutes at a time.

Our values

The principles behind every product decision we make.

Live over async

Real-time conversation creates genuine connection. We'll always prioritise the live experience over async messaging.

🔒

Privacy by default

Your data is yours. We collect the minimum necessary, never sell anything, and build privacy into the architecture.

🌈

Radical inclusion

LGBTQ+ events aren't a checkbox — they're a first-class format. Everyone deserves a space genuinely made for them.

🚫

No dark patterns

No fake urgency. No addictive loops. No ads. We'd rather build something you love than something you scroll for hours and regret.

📐

Radical simplicity

Every feature we ship has to justify its existence. The best product gets out of the way and lets two people connect.

💖

Safety first

A dating platform has a special responsibility. We take moderation, reporting, and user safety more seriously than anything else we build.

How we got here

Early 2022
The idea
After a particularly frustrating stretch on dating apps, our founder sketched a different approach — five-minute live chats, everyone meets everyone, matches only when mutual.
Mid 2022
First prototype
A rough browser-based demo, tested with 12 friends on a Tuesday evening. Three of them matched. One couple is still together.
Early 2023
LGBTQ+ format launched
After dozens of requests we launched dedicated LGBTQ+ events. The match rate in the first month was 81% — the highest of any format we've ever run.
2023–2024
10,000 participants
Word of mouth grew faster than any marketing we could have done. We crossed 10,000 participants and 3,000 confirmed matches without spending a dollar on ads.
2025
Organizer platform
We opened SpeedDate to third-party organizers — event hosts, community managers, and HR teams running their own events on our infrastructure.

Meet the team

A small, fully remote team spread across four time zones.

👩
Mara Lenz
Co-founder & CEO
Former UX researcher. Built SpeedDate after one too many bad Hinge conversations. Believes in slow coffee and fast first impressions.
👨
Kai Svensson
Co-founder & CTO
Full-stack engineer obsessed with real-time systems. Built the rotation engine in a weekend. Still improving it three years later.
🧑
Priya Nair
Head of Safety
Previously at a major social platform. Joined SpeedDate to build moderation that actually respects users. Reads every safety report personally.
👩
Tomás Gil
Growth & Community
Runs all the events, answers all the emails, and somehow always sounds calm. Based in Barcelona. Speaks four languages including fluent emoji.

We're hiring! jobs@speed-dating.org

As seen in

Come say hello 💖

The best way to understand SpeedDate is to try it. Join an event tonight — it takes 2 minutes to sign up and costs nothing.