Tinder rival Thursday is set to close its app amid ‘rapidly declining consumer interest’.
The London startup launched the app in 2021 and operated exclusively on Thursdays.
It was conceived by founder George Rawlings as a bid to combat dating fatigue by limiting user activity to one day per week.
The company behind the app is instead pivoting to a new focus, Thursday Events, where users can buy tickets – also through an app – to events each week that it plans to hold around the world.
It is also looking to focus more on its trips division, launch in new countries and release a clothing line.
In a post on Linkedin, co-founder Matthew McNeill Love said: “Today is a really sad day. We say goodbye to our dearly beloved dating app; Thursday.
“But with the rapidly declining consumer interest in dating apps it’s time for Thursday to focus on greener pastures and double down on what we really believe; that meeting other singles in the real world is better on every level, than meeting online.”
Rawlings also posted on LinkedIn regarding the decision and added: “Back in 2018 I started a dating app because I was single and wanted to find ‘love’. But fast forward six years, my masterplan worked.
“I’m delighted to announce I just got engaged and today we turned off the dating app, Thursday.
“Designed to be deleted…tick. Dating apps are dying. And IRL is booming.”
The move comes a year after Thursday gained traction in January 2024 after Rawlings apologised for a social media post about layoffs at his startup.
Thursday raised £2.5m in seed investment a few months after it launched in May 2021.