Ohlala launches Uber-like instant paid dating app in New York

But it is definitely not a crowdsourced escort service, the founders say.

Cassandra Khaw – Feb 5, 2016 11:31 am | 14

Freshly launched in New York, the lasciviously named “dating app” Ohlala is many things, but it is not an escort service—at least, that’s what the founders keep stressing. Speaking to Techcrunch, CEO and co-founder Pia Poppenreiter classifies Ohlala as something that helps “connects people to go on instant, paid dates.”

The Berlin-based Ohlala was actually launched in Germany some time last year, and has since closed a $1.7 million (about £1.2 million) seed round from investors. It operates rather like Uber in that (male) users must first fill out a date request, delineating specifications such as time and price range. Once completed, female users will have an arbitrary time frame of 21 minutes to respond. If a match is found, further negotiations can then take place.

“People have become overwhelmed by the time and difficulty it take to get an actual date online. Tired of the friction caused by superficial platforms that claim to offer an avenue for instant connections, we’ve focused Ohlala on creating true instant dates, making offline encounters happen quickly,” said Poppenreiter in a press release, explaining the brevity of the process.

It may sound like an illicit pursuit to many (and in many countries, it certainly is), but the people behind Ohlala appear relatively conscientious about its users’ privacy, mandating phone numbers for verification and allowing women to keep their profiles private until they wish to disclose their identities. Additionally, it looks like they will only activate your profile after a member of Ohlala has spoken to you on the phone. According to Broadly, potential users will be asked if they’re aware that “the dates might involve having sex for money,” and also will be given an opportunity to ask questions about the nature of the service.

Unfortunately, and rather disconcertingly, the men won’t be asked to undergo similar steps.

It’s unclear whether Ohlala will be able to operate in the US in the same way as in Germany, where prostitution is technically legal. Many states in the United States, including New York, regard sex work as punishable misdemeanours. In California, for example, a man was sentenced to 13 months in prison for operating a site where users could advertise erogenous services.