I want to tell you why I started doing what I’m doing, why I would not stop, and why you shouldn’t, too.

Hello, my name is Daria, and I’m a first-time founder of a dating service. We provide a safe space for everyone to find love and plan a date with a customized offline experience.

So, let me put it on the table — as of now, I’m building an online dating app.

What’s the odd here? Well, I’ve been married for eight years, and I’ve never used dating apps on my own.

When my friends and random people in the startup community approached me, I got a clear “no go” for my future with this idea. Like “you do not know anything about it. It’s not the right fit for you!”.

So, I had to think about my actions from another angle. This thing is not something that I just randomly picked. I have the pain to kill. Personal pain.

My story as a founder begins with my dear friend Alice, whose daughter Emily got into the trap of believing the sweet lies of dating profiles and paying for it.

A couple of years back, Alice got a divorce. She has a wonderful daughter named Emily. A fresh college grad just starting her adult life, Emily registered on one of the dating websites. Soon after registering, she met a Stanford graduate, as he claimed on his profile.

Shortly after that, they decided to go on an actual date, and that’s where things didn’t go so well. To begin with, the guy looked nothing like his pictures: the person in the photos was years younger; there was not even a distant similarity between them.

Later in the evening, he tried to grab her. Then, once the date was nearing its end, he started pressuring her into going home and having sex with him and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Luckily, they were in public so that she could ask for help and escape.

Emily told her mom about her experience. I happened to be there with them in their kitchen. Curious by nature, I decided to google this guy and do some background research. Imagine our shock when I found his name on a list of registered sex offenders?!

I’ve never had anything similar, and the thing is — I do not want anyone else experiencing this!

That just mind-blowing how, in the modern world, we still have to worry about the people we’ve met online! So if I register on the dating site — it means I’m looking for love and not the life-or-death adventure!

Not so long ago, Netflix released The Tinder Swindler — the true-life story of a serial fraudster and the women he ensnared. The documentary has claimed the top spot on the Netflix list of its most popular films worldwide. Unfortunately, this case is not an exception.

In an online era, romance scams have become such a pervasive issue that the FBI had to put out a special press release cautioning the public. What’s worse, the safety of people’s wallets is just one of the dangers of online dating. Your physical safety can also be at risk. Most dating apps promise that they care about your safety and security, but in reality, not much, if anything, is being done to safeguard it.

I’m a mother myself now. I have a daughter. She is too small to even think about dates. But if I will not step in and fix the current situation — we’ll keep heading towards the deep and dark rabbit hole.

And so, I cannot stand away from it. Yes, I do not have any background in dating. But this will not stop me from fixing the dishonesty we have now and creating Kafo — the safest dating app.

And so this is my motivation. And this is my life.

To all the readers and especially founders who made it to the end — please do not listen to the people who do not believe in you, that’s your battle, and only you have the power to win it!

New, fun, and safe way of online dating.

Many people, when asked about their online dating experience, shrug their shoulders — in today’s online era, it is more or less a necessary evil. For most, it is tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating, not to mention not always safe. In fact, online dating has become so inundated with scams that the FBI had to come out with a special press release to alert the public. Don’t forget, Tinder Swindler is based on real-life story, and Simon Leviev is much less of an exception than one might wish to think.

However, your financial safety is not the only danger of online dating. How can you be certain that you will not be physically assaulted when meeting a stranger? Even a public place, in broad daylight, may not always protect you. Most dating apps are aware of the issue but do little, if anything to keep you safe.

At Kafo, we want you to find happiness and feel 100% protected at every step of the process. We are your personal matchmaker, and we work hard to get you to your soulmate. We make sure to verify every user that joins our platform: we ask them for their government-issued IDs and selfies holding them, which we then check to make sure there are no sexual predators or offenders among our users. We don’t want to ever put you at risk, even inadvertently! We then ask you to list your preferences and priorities. And we promise, absolutely promise, that your true identity will never be revealed unless and until you’re ready to take the next step to explore things with your potential partner.

No, we are not paranoid! We’re just being prudent — on your behalf and on behalf of every one of our users. We want dating to be a pleasant, life-enriching experience, not an annoying and unsafe chore. We want YOU to be comfortable and untroubled as you hop on a video call with your potential would-be mate. It is up to US to take care of the headaches of searching and checking. You just relax and enjoy.

We invite you to sign up to receive our updates. Learn how to improve your dating life, so that you’ll be safe while enjoying it. Let’s join our efforts to transform this experience — for you, and for millions of other men and women seeking happiness.

#onlinedating #safedating #dating #online #safe