A Chinese dating app is offering users a full refund if they remain unmarried after three years. The pledge tests whether AI-led, one-to-one matching can deliver lasting relationships.Chinese dating app offers Rs 28,000 to users if matchmaking doesn't lead to marriage A Chinese matchmaking start-up has come up with an unusual promise for people looking for love: find a partner and get married within three years, or get every penny of your membership fee back.Called Liangpei AI, the platform was launched in July and charged users an annual membership fee of 2,000 yuan, approximately Rs 28,100.
The amount was fully refundable if a member remained unmarried after three years. The offer was part of the company's attempt to rethink how dating platforms worked, as reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).The promise stood out in a country with a sizeable online dating market.
According to SCMP, China's online dating industry was valued at 22.6 billion yuan (around Rs 31,750 crore) in 2024, with approximately 280 million users.Unlike conventional dating apps that allowed users to chat with multiple potential partners at the same time, Liangpei AI followed a strict one-to-one approach. Members could connect with only one person at a time and had to end that match before moving on to someone else.
The platform also placed emphasis on verifying its users. Registration required members to provide their real names, upload profile photographs and confirm that they were unmarried.
These checks reportedly filtered out more than 150 married people during the app's first month.The matchmaking process began with a 20-minute conversation with an AI system. Based on the interaction, the platform created a detailed profile of the user, covering aspects such as family background, education, profession, interests, personality, lifestyle and expectations from a partner.
The idea came from founder Zeng Xinxun, who previously led the development of AI search technology for Kimi, a chatbot developed by Chinese company Moonshot AI. He reportedly left his position around the release of Kimi K2 last year to start Liangpei AI, giving up stock options that were later valued at tens of millions of yuan.Speaking to Chinese media outlet AI New Rank, Zeng described conventional dating apps as little more than online directories.
In his view, such platforms displayed basic information about people but left users to figure out compatibility on their own.His own experience with online dating had also influenced the idea. Zeng met his wife through a dating app, where both had written profiles exceeding 1,000 words.
They decided to meet after just one day of chatting. He attributed their quick connection to the depth of information they had shared about themselves before meeting.Zeng also believed that limiting users to one match at a time made sense.
Too many options, he felt, could indicate that an algorithm was struggling to identify a genuinely compatible partner.Beyond matchmaking, the app also offered an 'AI Strategist' feature that assessed relationship concerns using users' profiles and chat histories.SCMP reported the example of a woman who turned to the tool after her match stopped responding to her messages. The AI advised her that even someone with a busy schedule should communicate their absence within three days.
She decided to end the match and later found another partner who was better suited to her.The start-up had reportedly registered more than 35,000 users, with a conversion rate of around 9 per cent. It had also secured 15 million yuan (approximately Rs 21 crore) in angel funding.
However, since the platform had only recently launched, its success in turning matches into marriages was yet to be established.The refund promise also raised questions about how the company would handle cases in which a user barely used the app or got married through a different route. Zeng, however, maintained that matchmaking services should not make money when they failed to help people find love.
He said he was willing to return the fee if the platform did not deliver on its promise.The idea prompted some interesting reactions. One observer suggested that AI-assisted matchmaking could lead to more compatible relationships and happier marriages, potentially improving people's increasingly subdued outlook on romance.Another user took the discussion in a different direction, wondering whether the app's AI Strategist could also be made available to married couples.
The person joked that they and their husband, who did not have children, could use an objective third party to help navigate their relationship.- Ends