Jigsaw, Dating App That Hides Users’ Faces, Raises £2.7m To 

Fight Superficial Dating 

Investment will be used for US expansion and technology innovation, as Jigsaw stands against superficiality and stands up for personality in dating. 

Jigsaw, a dating app in which users’ faces are hidden – has closed a £2.7m seed round to fuel US expansion. The investment in Jigsaw was led by online dating company The Relationship Corp and supported by angel investors in the US and UK, primarily in the tech sector. 

Jigsaw defies the superficial nature of dating app culture by emphasising getting to know someone’s personality before their looks. To do this, it overlays users’ faces with a digital jigsaw puzzle that disappears the more they chat. Invented in 2016 and launched originally in London in 2019, Jigsaw became the first British business to complete NASDAQs start-up accelerator in San Francisco and has raised £3.6m in funding since inception. 

Jigsaw launched in the US in November 2020 and has already amassed a community of 50,000 singles looking for a more satisfying dating app experience. It has ambitious goals of growing its community to over half a million in the next six months – a speed ten times faster than the growth it enjoyed in the UK. Jigsaw believes it is tapping into a US trend of people seeking more meaningful connections. Recent research conducted by Jigsaw showed 67% of American dating apps users are sick of being judged on their looks and 71% want a better alternative. 

The app already boasts a patented core USP of revealing users’ faces through communication and has other features such as manual profile verification, banning of facewarping filters and purposefully does not request any physical information (height, body shape and ethnicity). The latest investment will be used to innovate features that encourage users to be themselves and show their personalities. 

Co-Founder of Jigsaw, Alex Durrant comments,

“Since day one, we’ve been on a mission to rebuild a broken dating app landscape and empower singles to get to know each other for who they are – and to look beyond the looks. 

“This latest investment means we can spread our wings across the whole of the United States. In a year where we’ve all had to slow down, people are embracing getting to know each other more than a quick swipe. Since launching only 3 months weeks ago, our growth figures prove the Jigsaw approach is one that Americans value, and we look forward to even faster growth across the country and globally in the not so distant future.” 

Jigsaw was dreamed up by childhood friends, Alex Durrant (Co-Founder and CEO) and Max Adamski (Co-Founder and CPO) when they were at university in the United Kingdom. Frustrated with the options available, they created Jigsaw to reject the shallow dating app landscape in the hope it would lead to more meaningful connections. In 2018 they both gave up their jobs to pursue Jigsaw in a full time capacity. The company now has two offices in Manchester and London in the United Kingdom and a team of 14. 

Jigsaw’s board includes its two founders, as well as Chris Edmonds (Chairman) and Christina Mills (Brand & Comms Director). 

For interview opportunities and further information and imagery, please contact CEO [email protected] .

About Jigsaw: 

Jigsaw was born out of frustration with superficial dating app culture, where people are judged mainly on appearance. It’s designed for people to put personality first. Jigsaw places a jigsaw puzzle over faces so you match based on what people say, not just their photo. Exchanging messages with matches makes jigsaw pieces fall away, until you reveal the face. Jigsaw is for people who want to see the real you, not your filtered selfie. Where you can be yourself. It has one clear mission: to save singles from superficial dating. 

Jigsaw is free to download from the App Store and Google Play in the US and UK. 

Jigsaw was founded in Leeds, England, in 2016, by Alex Durrant (CEO) and Max Adamski (Chief Product Officer) and has since become one of the fastest growing dating apps in the UK. Since inception, the company has raised over £3.6m in funding, has over 150,000 registered users in the UK and US and now has offices in Manchester and London. The app is committed to helping users match based on personality over looks. Its USP is a digital puzzle piece that is overlaid on users’ faces and disappears the more users send messages to each other. Other notable features include the banning filters and the app does not request any physical information (height, body shape and ethnicity). The revolutionary dating app launched into the United States in November 2020.