Hinge CEO Leaves to Start an AI-Driven Dating App
Veteran marketer Jackie Jantos takes the reins as Justin McLeod shifts focus to Overtone, with Match Group support
- Justin McLeod is stepping down as Hinge CEO to launch Overtone, an AI-driven dating app supported by Match Group.
- Match Group said it plans to lead Overtone’s initial funding round in early 2026 and maintain a substantial ownership position.
- Jackie Jantos, president and chief marketing officer of Hinge, has been named to succeed McLeod as CEO.
Match Group said Hinge founder Justin McLeod is stepping down as chief executive of the unit to launch Overtone, an AI-driven dating app in the early stages of development.
McLeod will remain as an adviser to Hinge through March, the company said, adding that McLeod and a team spent much of 2025 developing Overtone and that the company fully supports it.
Jackie Jantos, president and chief marketing officer of Hinge, has been named to succeed McLeod as CEO.
Match, which owns the dating apps Hinge, Tinder and its namesake dating brand, has been trying to gain traction with younger users and contending with fewer users willing to pay for premium features on dating apps.
Jantos joined the company as its chief marketing officer four years ago from password-management firm Dashlane, where she held the position of chief marketing officer after stints at Spotify and Coca-Cola.
Hinge during her time at the marketing helm shifted focus to zero in on a Gen Z audience—one often characterized as lonely and lovesick. She headed up marketing pushes like “No Ordinary Love,” a campaign inspired by the boom in romance literature that published original love stories on Substack, on the walls of New York City subway cars and in a zine.
Jantos in 2023 began a marketing push ostensibly encouraging young people to get off their phones and embrace real-life activities. In March 2024, the company published a physical book of things to do without a screen. Jantos was promoted to the role of president a year later.
Match recently said third-quarter results improved, but forecast a potentially slower fourth quarter as it experiments with user-experience tests. Tinder experienced a 7% drop in paying users, Match said, but Hinge generated an increase of 17%.
The company said it plans to lead Overtone’s initial funding round in early 2026 and to hold a substantial ownership position. Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff is expected to join Overtone’s board, and McLeod is expected to be the chair. Overtone will operate independently, Match said.
Tamika Young, Hinge’s senior vice president of global communications, was named chief marketing and communications officer at Hinge.