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The Problem of Love
The problem of love is the question at the center of Overtone, the new AI- and voice-forward dating service from Hinge founder Justin McLeod. After more than a decade building Hinge into a $400 million business, McLeod left the CEO seat and raised $18 million to reimagine how technology helps people find a partner. His premise is simple and stubborn: as loneliness climbs, few problems matter more, and the deeper he digs, the more interesting it becomes. Overtone gets to know each person in their own voice and makes only the introductions worth making.
Monsarrat - Can You Come Out to Play?
Monsarrat is a Los Angeles-based augmented reality game studio building what it calls the world's first Outdoor RPG. Founded by Johnny Monsarrat - who co-founded Turbine, one of the first MMO companies, later sold to Warner Bros. for $160M - the studio's demo game Landing Party spreads an entire fantasy world across any real-world park or open space instead of pinning one creature to a GPS point. Backed by seven-plus patents, a ~12-person team, and an advisory board of former PlayStation, Blizzard, Niantic, and Lucasfilm executives, Monsarrat pitches outdoor gaming as an antidote to a loneliness epidemic - a reason to walk outside and play.