How do you get on Raya? Members tell all on the exclusive dating app

It was mid-November and my friend and I were sipping espresso martinis in Greenpoint as she made her convincing plea for why I needed to reevaluate my entire dating life — a common point of contention between two twenty-something women sitting in a cocktail bar.“You just need to listen to me,” she said, grabbing my phone.

“Get on Raya!”I had just moved to New York City and was single for the first time in five years.I’d already heard plenty of jabber about what has been called the “Soho House of dating apps” — her words, not mine.

A few of my friends were on it.Not celebrities, but not quite “normies” either.

Some ex-models, a few struggling artists, a couple of semi-nerdy tech guys, plus a handful of girls with an impressive social media following.Let’s just call them micro-influencers.

Dating apps have never scared me.Meeting people online is the par for the course for Gen Z and millennials.

Whether that leads to a serious relationship, is a separate conversation.But, over half of adults under 30 have used a dating app or site.

Tinder is the most popular, followed by Bumble, then Hinge, according to 2023 data from the Pew Research Center.Then, there are the other options, like Raya.

“Our focus at Raya is to provide members with access to exciting people and opportunities around the world…” a brief description reads from the app store.The brand goes on to list Raya’s community values, “trust, respect, and privacy – are core to the membership experience.”Since its conception in 2015, Raya has reached 100 million in user spending, an impressive measure of growth for a relatively niche target market.

The brand has positioned itself more as a social network than a dating app; a space to build connections, whether romantic, platonic, or perhaps for business.Still, perhaps the biggest draw of Raya is the fact that A-listers like Channing Tatum, Joe Jonas, Demi Lovato, and Olivia Rodrigo have allegedly been members.

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