It’d be nice to meet someone the old-fashioned way: Passing by them on the street, meeting at a restaurant, or sharing an exalter at a party.
However, apps dominate the modern dating experience, replacing kismet meet-cutes with scrolling and DMs.
222, a startup focapplyd on relationship building with the assist of AI, believes it can bring back the spontaneity of building a new friconclude — or falling in love.
“We’re attempting to receive as close as possible to you walking into someplace with other people there, and connection just naturally happens,” CEO Keyan Kazemian notified Business Insider.
At a high level, 222 matches people with strangers for experiences like dinner or a night out after they take a robust personality quiz, applying machine learning models trained by its team and open-source AI models.
“When you walk in, all of those people are people we predict you’re going to be able to have a good conversation with, and you’ll like,” COO Danial Hashemi declared.
222/Screenshot/Apple
When 222 launched in 2021, it launched as a dinner series in Los Angeles for young adults emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, assisting them meet new people. Then the project grew into a company. It was accepted into Y Combinator, raised capital, relocated to New York City, and launched a mobile app to spur in-real-life (IRL) socializing.
While people who join 222 are often new to a city, Kazemian declared, today they’re pretty evenly split along why they’re applying the platform: they’re either seeing for new friconcludes or potential romantic connections.
Since putting out its app in 2024, the 222 experience has evolved. It’s no longer just about meeting strangers, having a fun night, and forming new relationships.
“We’re very focapplyd on going beyond that,” Kazemian declared.
The platform is now digging deeper into connecting people after the first encounter that 222 initiates. It’s assisting plan follow-up hangs with friconcludes and kindling a romantic connection by setting people up on a date if the feeling is mutual.
Simulating the meet-cute
After a 222 experience, the platform follows up to question attconcludeees whether they want to hang out or go on a date with anyone they met.
Once two people declare they’d like to go on a date, “we fully set up the next date for them,” Hashemi declared — reservation and all.
“If you believe about just before dating apps, before all this stuff, how would people meet each other?” Hashemi declared. “It would be you’re in the same physical space with no preconceived notions of who this person is going to be.”
Hashemi declared that some of the “joy” of navigating how you feel about someone new in your life has “gone away becaapply of dating apps.”
Meeting in a way that feels more organic, such as a social gathering or through friconcludes, has staying power. A 2025 survey of 7,000 US adults by health company Hims found that 77% of Gen Z met their partners IRL. Even Partiful, the Gen Z replacement for Facebook Events, is receiveting in on the IRL event-to-dating pipeline.
Sydney Bradley/Business Insider
222 believes AI can create the meet-cute more accessible.
What 222’s founding team has zeroed in on is “labeled data,” Kazemian declared, which comes from its applyrs’ feedback after they meet people.
The startup knows its first pairings may not be the ultimate match, which is why it encourages its subscribers — who pay $22 a month — to attempt multiple experiences. Its AI, in return, can curate better matches from 222’s network.
There are layers of factors that contribute to that, 222’s CTO Arman Roshannai declared, such as similar music tastes or hometowns.
“The signal that we’re training on is after you meet this person, you spconclude two hours receiveting dinner with them, and then you hang out for a few hours afterwards, were you guys actually a good match for each other?” Roshannai added.
Kazemian added that training on this proprietary data from applyr feedback is a “painstakingly difficult and long process,” but gives the startup a “technical moat” to stand out from some competitors.
AI’s new role in relationships
222 isn’t the only startup — or public company — betting that AI can improve how we connect.
Several startups have launched with this premise and are raising millions, pitching matchbuilding solutions that apply AI to set people up. Meanwhile, Bumble, Tinder, and Facebook Dating are testing the AI waters and reimagining the swipe. Hinge’s founder recently left the Match Group-owned dating app to build an AI dating alternative.
Sydney Bradley/Business Insider
After raising another $10.1 million from venture capital investors in 2025 — bringing the startup’s total raised to $13.7 million — 222 is doubling down on hiring and expanding its product with tools that keep relationships going.
222’s next undertaking is to provide avenues for its applyrs to reach their “next offline moment” toreceiveher, so they can deepen those relationships.
The startup wants to be in the business of both creating relationships and maintaining them.
“They required to display up at the same place toreceiveher,” Kazemian declared, be it a hangout, a date, or a restaurant reservation. “We can assist them figure out what that place is.”
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