If the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" left an impression on you, you’re not alone. The 2024 Intimacy Status Report by Israeli company Arya reveals that 35% of respondents expressed interest in spicing up their relationships.
According to the report, which is akin to a modern version of the legendary Masters and Johnson studies, 100,000 users of Arya’s platform aren’t looking for casual flings. Instead, they’re searching for ways to reignite romance and passion in long-term relationships that have fallen into routine. Unsurprisingly, 90% of users dissatisfied with their sex lives reported that this dissatisfaction negatively impacted their overall relationship.
If you’re wondering how technology fits into all of this, the answer lies in artificial intelligence. Arya is a relationship-enhancement app currently making waves in the U.S. market. It uses AI to learn couples’ preferences and desires, offering tailored “scenarios” that encourage them to explore new dimensions of intimacy. To complement this experience, Arya sends couples a “surprise box” containing curated items designed to enhance their connection and, of course, their user experience.
So far, 200,000 users have registered on Arya’s platform in the U.S., with tens of thousands actively engaging – couples receiving new activities to try every month. The user base has grown tenfold over the past year, likely fueling the company’s recent announcement of an $8.5 million Series A funding round, just a year after its previous round. To date, Arya has raised a total of $16 million.
The funding round was led by Ibex Investors, with participation from previous backers Play Ventures, Patron Fund, and BigBets.vc, as well as private investors like Yasmine Lukatz (“The Shark”), Naama Barkler, founder and CEO of BetterHealth, Neil Parikh, co-founder of Casper, and others.
Ofer Yehudai, Arya’s co-founder and CEO, explained in an interview with Ynet that there has been a major shift in quality-of-life investments in recent years. People are increasingly willing to spend on mental health, nutrition and sleep quality, and, in line with this, couple wellness is becoming an equally important part of the conversation.
“People are used to finding love online,” Yehudai explained. “But how do you maintain it? That’s where there’s a gap. It’s easy to forget that between online dating, couples therapy, and divorce, there are years of good, healthy relationships. But the tools to sustain them are quite limited.”
A possible successor to Tinder?
Could Arya be the next step after Tinder, designed for those who found love online and now want to preserve it using online tools?
“Eighty percent of our customers are millennial moms aged 35 to 45 – women who decided to take responsibility for their relationships and intimacy. What unites all our users is that they’re people willing to invest in their quality of life. They care about nutrition, put effort into looking better, and want to live their lives to the fullest.”
Why is the majority of your user base women?
“When you speak to professionals, they’re not surprised that, in most cases, the woman takes the lead. It’s a well-documented phenomenon in the realms of intimacy and relationships. In most cases, the woman takes responsibility for the relationship in this area, while the partner goes along. Interestingly, in the 20% of cases where the man is the client, these couples tend to stay together much longer.”
Shaping intimate connections
Arya provides a variety of activities for its users, although Ynet refrains from delving into specifics due to its family-friendly nature. Ultimately, most people know what’s being referenced, but many feel uncomfortable discussing such topics – even with their partner.
Yehudai recounted a story about a friend, Yaniv, and his wife. Everyone has a “Yaniv” in their life, but in this case, Yaniv decided to playfully gift the couple an adult toy. It became a subject of jokes but also sparked curiosity without either partner feeling pressured. “Arya is like Yaniv,” Yehudai said. “It knows both of us, picks the gift, and if it misses the mark it’s Arya’s fault – not ours.”
Arya operates differently from other relationship apps. Users communicate with its AI, called the “concierge,” via text. Couples share what interests them, what they want to learn, and where their boundaries lie. The concierge, much like Yaniv, suggests ideas from its “experience” and surprises them with exciting gifts.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
The company was founded in 2022 by entrepreneurs Ofer Yehudai and Tomer Magid, both seasoned innovators with multiple successful startup exits. They partnered with Dr. Yael Doron, known as “Yael from Married at First Sight,” as a scientific advisor. Recently, Arya appointed renowned intimacy coach and sexologist Shan Boodram – AASECT certified sex educator, an American Board of Sexology certified Sexologist, with a M.S. in psychology – as its Chief Intimacy Officer (CIO). In addition to its scientific team and experts who developed the platform’s content and activities, Arya also operates a human support center to assist when the AI encounters situations it cannot handle.
Does the AI serve as a replacement for a partner?
“Today, you see many apps offering virtual partners, friends, or companions. We’re trying to show that our AI is different – it connects you to someone in real life in a better way, rather than replacing them.”
Insights into relationship dynamics
With hundreds of thousands of users, Arya has amassed rich data on the romantic and intimate preferences of Americans. For example, one-third of couples want to be more adventurous than they currently are, one-third aim to reignite the spark in their relationship, and one-third are looking to try completely new experiences. Most users engage with the concierge three to four times a week, and once a month, they receive a new “scenario” featuring intriguing items from the world of intimacy.
Over the past two years, Arya’s AI has been trained on texts that no other AI models are familiar with – or perhaps wouldn’t even want to be. This specialized data is invaluable for identifying behavioral patterns, human preferences, and suggestions to enhance users’ satisfaction with their lives.
For Yehudai, Arya’s mission feels deeply meaningful. “There are 72 million couples in the U.S. Our goal, without cynicism, is to create couple wellness. When you see feedback from couples saying, ‘I rediscovered my spouse,’ it gives you energy. There’s enormous potential here. The trend among millennials and younger generations is that they’re having less intimacy. We’re here to offer them new tools to invest in their intimacy and relationships.”