Former TikTok executive Launches Dating App Spark

Alex Hofman, a tech investor and former president of Musical.ly (which later became TikTok), has launched a new dating app called Spark.

Spark employs some traditional dating app features with a twist, and with some extra safety precautions. According to Tech Crunch, when a user logs in, they are presented with a grid of potential matches who are on the app at the same time. If the user sees someone they are interested in, they can like the photo – and if there is a mutual like, they can start chatting, but they only have 24 hours to respond or the match goes away.

Tech Crunch pointed out that while there is no swiping like in traditional dating apps, it has a mixture of similar features. Grindr for example, presents users with a grid of multiple people, but they don’t have to match before being able to message each other which leads to a lot of unwanted communication. Bumble puts a 24-hour time limit on matches to encourage them to communicate more quickly.

Screenshots of the Spark Dating App

Image: Spark

Spark is also putting safety as a key selling point by using Hive, an AI moderation tool that ensures users won’t be uploading offensive content onto their profiles. In addition, the app has a “safety team” that moderates the app 24/7, and an in-house security expert to look for vulnerabilities on the platform.

ByteDance acquired Musical.ly for about $1 billion in 2018, which is when Hofman exited the company. Spark is operated by Hofman’s tech company 9count, which owns apps like Everland, Helpline and Wink, a social app which has millions of users. Hofman told Tech Crunch that he noticed a trend in China where tech companies build and develop several different types of products, rather than just focusing on one category, which is how he is modeling his company. The trend in the U.S. however, is for tech companies to either buy other successful apps (like Meta bought Instagram), or to keep developing their flagship app, like Twitter. 

“Having one product is super exciting, of course,” he told Tech Crunch, “but we do see the trend that there are more and more different interest groups. Serving them with just one product can work, but there is a higher chance that you can connect with more people with different products.”

Spark has already done a beta launch in several countries, and climbed to the top spot in the app store in Ireland and the Netherlands. The wait list for the app topped 50,000 before its launch.

The app is free but also offers a subscription plan or users can pay for individual premium features like traditional dating apps. Subscriptions start at $19.99 per month.

Spark dating app is not affiliated with Spark Networks, which owns several dating apps including Zoosk, Christian Mingle, and JDate. They also had a dating service named Spark.com as well.