Stanford Grad Gets $2.1 Million For Her Tinder For Elite App

Anyone can join Tinder, and that’s great, but it’s not great because there are no restrictions for people that definitely shouldn’t be procreating. That fat creepy guy you always see at Hardee’s who looks like he has sex slaves imprisoned in his basement can join Tinder. Your 63-year-old aunt Glinda who drinks too much Moscato can join Tinder. That weird dude that catcalls girls outside the DMV can join Tinder. However one enterprising young woman is looking to incorporate some standards into a dating app.

Amanda Bradford created “The League,” a dating app that only accepts the creme de la creme of society. Bradford, who attended Stanford Graduate school, wants to make it easier for successful individuals to meet and become power couples. The League’s elite pool of prospects include lawyers, doctors, and tech executives, but Bradford claims that there are no salary restraints to join the app.

Bradford says:

“The best universities curate students. Employers curate their employees. Work and school are the top places where 20-somethings meet each other. So it makes sense for a dating community to curate as well.”

Bradford says she and her friends frequently stalked guys on LinkedIn before agreeing to go on a date with a guy to assure that their goals align. She used that logic in her app. To determine eligibility the app utilizes LinkedIn instead of Facebook like Tinder does. Bradford and her team have devised algorithms that skews slightly towards female and most users have advanced degrees.

Bradford says that her app is not just to find people who want to screw:

“We want people to think of The League as a little more grown up and tasteful, for young professionals who want to go out for a coffee or a drink and aren’t just about hooking up.”

Once accepted, users are only shown a handful of matches per day. They can log back in during “happy hour” at 5 p.m. for a new batch of matches. The League doesn’t want to start awkward interoffice connections, so the app won’t show your coworkers.

Those lucky enough to get accepted into The League get one golden ticket that they can give to a single friend. About 50 percent of The League’s members were referred by another member.

After Stanford, Bradford started working at Salesforce and interned with the top venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. She was hoping to raise $750,000, but investors, including five of her professors at Stanford, were happy to invest. The League just raised $2.1 million in funding to expand the service. Currently the app is operating in San Francisco with 4,500 beta users. Since November, the app has paired 20,000 people, resulting in 19 couples.

Bradford is looking to launch The League in New York City next, where she claims that there is already a sizable wait list. After NYC she wants to take her exclusive dating app to London and then smaller U.S. cities.

So if you’re biggest college accomplishment is that you drank a bottle of Fireball from a beer bong in one night, you might want to save yourself some time and not attempt to sign up for The League.

[BusinessInsider]