Who Owns Zoe?

Zoe was launched in 2018 by Cosmic Latte s.r.o. as a dating and social networking app designed for lesbian, bisexual, queer women and nonbinary people. The app was created to address a gap in the dating app market, where platforms designed specifically for queer women were limited. At the time of Zoe's launch, the dominant LGBTQ+ dating apps were primarily oriented toward gay men, with fewer options tailored to women and nonbinary users.

The app launched on iOS and Android with core dating features including profile creation, photo sharing, matching algorithms, and messaging. Zoe differentiated itself from mainstream dating apps by requiring photo verification to reduce fake profiles and catfishing, a problem that had been widely reported on LGBTQ+ dating platforms. The photo verification feature required users to submit a real-time selfie that was compared to their profile photos.

Zoe introduced additional features over time, including Private Mode, which allows users to browse profiles without appearing in others' visitor lists, and filtering options based on age, location, and relationship preferences. The app maintained a policy of not allowing explicit sexual content in public profile photos, positioning itself as a relationship-oriented platform rather than a hookup app.

The app's user base grew internationally, with users in 122 countries by 2025. Zoe's largest user bases are in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and other countries with significant LGBTQ+ populations. The app's global reach made it one of the few dating platforms with a large international user base specifically focused on queer women and nonbinary people.

In December 2025, Zoe was the subject of a major academic study published in Demographic Research, a peer-reviewed journal of population sciences. The study, led by Dr. Francesco Rampazzo of The University of Manchester, analyzed data from 913,253 Zoe users across 122 countries between January 2023 and May 2025. It examined self-reported sexual identities and their distribution across geography and age. The study was conducted in collaboration with Northern Illinois University and the Zoe app, which shared anonymized, aggregated data for research purposes.

The study found that among all users, 48.3 percent identified as lesbian, 39.8 percent as bisexual, 6.6 percent as pansexual, 3.4 percent as queer, 1.2 percent as gay, and 0.7 percent as asexual. Among Gen Z users (born 1997-2006), 45 percent identified as bisexual and 42.2 percent as lesbian, suggesting that younger users are more likely to adopt broader or more fluid identity labels. The study received coverage from Pink News, The Advocate, and Phys.org, among other outlets.

Milan Kovacic, identified as the former CEO of Zoe, commented on the study's significance for LGBTQ+ communities. The research collaboration between Zoe and academic institutions marked a notable example of a dating app company contributing anonymized user data for peer-reviewed demographic research.

As of July 2026, Zoe continues to operate as a dating and social networking app for queer women and nonbinary people, with a growing international user base. The app faces competition from both mainstream dating apps that have expanded their LGBTQ+ features and from niche platforms targeting the same demographic.