Who Owns Hinge?

Justin McLeod founded Hinge in 2012 while completing his MBA at Harvard Business School. The project began in 2011 as a desktop service called Secret Agent Cupid, which allowed users to connect through Facebook and list which friends they had crushes on. In 2012, the project became a mobile app called Hinge, launching publicly in February 2013 in Washington, D.C.

The original Hinge used Facebook friend lists to match users with friends of friends, creating a more trusted dating environment. The app positioned itself as a less superficial alternative to Tinder, which had launched the same year. Before Hinge gained enough users to sustain the business, the company nearly ran out of funding. McLeod spent much of the remaining money on a launch party in Washington, D.C., which helped secure additional investment.

By 2015, Hinge had grown into a swipe-based app similar to Tinder, but McLeod was dissatisfied with the results. Users were getting casual hookups instead of meaningful relationships. At the end of 2015, McLeod laid off half his team and went back to the drawing board. The redesigned app launched in 2016, removing the swipe mechanism entirely and introducing detailed profiles with prompts and questions designed to spark genuine conversations. The app charged $7 per month to weed out non-serious users.

The redesign introduced the tagline "Designed to be Deleted," emphasizing the app's goal of helping users find relationships and leave the app. The Hingie mascot, introduced in marketing campaigns, is shown being destroyed in various ways when users find love. In 2017, Hinge received more mentions than any other dating app in the "Weddings" section of The New York Times.

Match Group made its first investment in Hinge in September 2017. In June 2018, Match Group acquired 51% ownership with the right to buy all remaining shares within a year. By Q1 2019, Match Group owned 100% of Hinge. Under Match Group's management, Hinge's revenue grew from $8 million in 2018 to $284 million in 2022, according to Wikipedia.

In 2018, Hinge moved away from using friends of friends as a compatibility predictor and no longer required Facebook authentication. The app introduced Voice Notes, Video Prompts, and Voice Prompts to allow users to express themselves in multiple formats. Hinge offers two premium subscription tiers: Hinge+ and HingeX.

In 2025, Hinge expanded internationally, launching in Mexico and Brazil, where it quickly became the second most-downloaded dating app in both markets as of December 2025, according to Sensor Tower. Hinge was the most downloaded dating app in its 12 European expansion markets (France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and Belgium) in December 2025. European expansion markets reached 3.3 million MAU by end of 2025, up from approximately 200,000 at launch.

In Q2 2026, Hinge entered six new European countries and four additional Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Peru, and others). Hinge also built an organic presence in India with over 1 million MAU in 2025, growing 40% Y/Y without marketing spend, representing the brand's first meaningful push into Asia.

In mid-July 2026, Hinge launched Friend's Take, a feature that brings friends and family into the dating experience. The app also introduced Signals, a badge system that recognizes and rewards users who demonstrate thoughtful participation, which led to a 15% increase in selfie verification in tests.