Deluxe matchmaking

Elite matchmaking is having a moment (for those who can afford it). From a new crop of matchmaking services emerging in the UK and the US, to zeitgeisty studio A24’s new film Materialists, in which Dakota Johnson plays a high-end New York matchmaker, one of the oldest forms of dating is getting a reboot.

This is against a backdrop of dating apps no longer attracting the numbers they once did. Dating app Bumble in June announced that it was cutting almost a third of its workforce, the BBC reported, with chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd noting that the dating industry is facing an "inflection point.” And Match Group, the parent of Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, in May posted a 5% fall in its paying users for the first quarter of 2025, Reuters wrote, falling to 14.2 million from 14.9 million in the same period a year ago.

As a counterpoint to apps’ instant gratification mode, elite matchmaking services are offering a slow-burn, curated approach. One elite matchmaking service, Berkeley International, has seen a 35% rise in membership over the past year. The company’s global director, Mairéad Molloy, tells VML Intelligence that her clients are turning to matchmakers as they’re “looking for something that feels real again, something thoughtful, human, and respectful,” she says. “The truth is, people are tired,” adds Molloy. “They’re exhausted by apps, endless messaging, ghosting, and surface-level connections. At Berkeley International, we are seeing a very real shift [toward] people wanting meaningful relationships again. They want to feel genuinely seen and understood, and they’re realizing that relying on technology to find love often leaves them more disconnected than ever.”

We are seeing a very real shift toward people wanting meaningful relationships again. They want to feel genuinely seen and understood, and they’re realizing that relying on technology to find love often leaves them more disconnected than ever.

Mairéad Molloy

Global director, Berkeley International

These are primarily luxury services targeting an upscale clientele. Berkeley International’s fees start at £15,000, or around $20,300 for a standard membership, while for complex or international searches the company offers a tailored service, for which fees are “bespoke.” Molloy’s clients, she says, see the cost as “a personal investment not just in meeting someone, but in doing it the right way. Our clients aren’t paying for volume or gimmicks; they are paying for professionalism, experience, and a service that is completely designed around them.”

High-end agencies are now thriving around the world. Alongside Berkeley International, other elite matchmaking services include Bond The Agency and Ignite Dating in the UK, Kelleher International and Three Day Rule in the US, Maxion in the UAE and Australia’s gay matchmaking agency Beau Brummell Introductions.

Indeed, writer and director Celine Song drew on her own six months working as a matchmaker in New York for inspiration for the film Materialists, released in June. “In those six months, I learned more about people and what’s in their hearts than I did in any other period of my life,” Song told Curzon’s Summer Journal. “Because the truth is people are very, very honest with their matchmaker.”

Materialists3 — Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal in Materialists, courtesy A24. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima

The film, in which matchmaker Johnson is torn between a charming, wealthy suitor (Pedro Pascal) and her struggling actor ex (Chris Evans), is also inspired, Song says, by parallels between the pragmatic, financially driven marriage market depicted in Jane Austen’s works and Victorian novels and today’s cut-throat dating scene. “I think economic reality has always been such a huge part of romance. To me, Materialists is part of that tradition, but of course it is very much set today, where all of us exist within the credit market,” says Song.

However, for Molloy at Berkeley International, romance is just as much at play as pragmatism when it comes to matchmaking. “Yes, there is a practical side,” Molloy acknowledges. “Our clients are busy, they move in certain circles, they want to meet someone who shares a similar outlook, lifestyle, and values. But at the core of it is a deep desire to connect. They’re romantic in the true sense – they believe in love, but they are not naïve about it. They come to us because they want help doing it properly.”

And, she adds, no matter how successful people may appear, “loneliness” is a factor. “There is a lot of isolation out there even among people who look like they’re thriving. What we do is deeply personal, and that’s exactly why it works,” she says.

The Intelligence Take

While the growing phenomenon of elite matchmaking services no doubt speaks to a sense of fatigue in swiping right, these services’ popularity also points to a craving to cut through the dating noise and find real connection, nodding to the non-negotiables – unique to each person - that lie behind the search for a perfect match. The trend speaks to a broad need for the high-touch approach, elements of which may now trickle down to the mainstream. As Molloy at Berkeley International points out: “It’s human, and that matters.”

Main image: Dakota Johnson in Materialists, courtesy A24. Credit: Atsushi Nishijima