Matchmaking Service Uses DNA Tests to Pick Mates

A newly relaunched online matchmaking service is using saliva samples to match customers up with prospective romantic partners.

Southern California-based Singldout knows that a large component of what attracts people to each other is biological; to that end, the service collects DNA samples from its users and proposes matches based on biological compatibility.

“There really is a science behind attraction,” Singldout co-founder Elle France told LA Weekly. “It’s not just that you’re attracted to them when you fall for someone. There is a reason you fall in love and want to be with them. It’s in your genes.”

Singldout’s other co-founder, Jana Bayad, told LA Weekly that the service looks to match people up based on how dissimilar their DNA is. The service reportedly tests users’ immune system genes, as well as a serotonin-transporter gene that measures how well a person handles stress. With both genes, difference is key.

“If someone’s cool and someone else is high-strung, there will be stronger compatibility than two people who are high strung,” Bayad said.

Love is not cheap, and the Singldout service is no exception; subscribers pay $149 for three months, $200 for six months, or $250 for the year. With each package, Singdlout sends the subscriber a DNA testing kit they they fill with a saliva sample and then send back. The user also takes a short personality quiz and fills in the remainder of their profile with details from their LinkedIn page. 

The Singldout FAQ section claims they are the first in the industry “to bridge the gap between the digital and biological worlds of love.”

“It’s absolutely the science of evolution,” Bayad told LA Weekly.