Dattch, the Pinterest-inspired dating app for queer women, has today re-launched with a new name (Her) as well as $1 million in new funding from investors such as Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian, YC’s Garry Tan and Michael Birch.
Founder Robyn Exton said that people too often thought Dattch stood for some combination of ‘dyke’ or ‘butch’ or ‘snatch’, and that ‘Her’ more closely represents the evolution of the product. “We are all Her,” said Exton. For the record, Dattch originally stood for ‘Date Catch.’
“I actually thought it was a rather clever combination of words at the time, but almost everyone thought it stood for ‘snatch,'” said Exton.
But it’s not only the name that has been given a makeover.
Her employs more of a match-based approach to communication than the old Dattch did. In the old version of the app, users could interact with other users profiles with total freedom, liking pictures or comments or sending direct messages. Users could see every person who had visited their profile and receive notifications for every like and message.
On Her, users only enter into a conversation when both parties have liked something on that users profile.
Exton says that 75 percent of the time, that was the usual behavior they were seeing on Dattch, so the shift made sense during the re-branding.
Her also focuses a good deal of attention on editorial content, offering up cool event and activity ideas where queer women can meet and connect. Exton told TechCrunch that the team is curating the content themselves, receiving local info from event partners and working with journalists in various markets to write informative community pieces.
Her is currently available in the UK, Ireland, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Miami, with half a million matches made on the platform.
