China app bets Rs 28,000 on your love life, promises refund if you don't marry in 3 years

A Chinese matchmaking app is making an unusual promise to people struggling to find love: if they pay for its service but remain unmarried after three years, they can get their entire membership fee back. The start-up, Liangpei AI, is betting that its artificial intelligence-based matchmaking model can help users find a life partner, with its founder arguing that dating platforms should not make money when they fail to deliver results, according to SCMP.

Launched in July, the app charges an annual membership fee of 2,000 yuan (approximately Rs 28,100). The amount is refundable if a subscriber remains unmarried after three years, making the offer a direct challenge to the conventional dating-app business model.

The proposition comes amid a fiercely competitive matchmaking market in China. The country's online dating industry was valued at 22.6 billion yuan (approximately Rs 31,753 crore) in 2024, with an estimated 280 million users.


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How the app works

Unlike conventional dating platforms that allow users to interact with multiple potential partners simultaneously, Liangpei AI follows a one-to-one matching system. A user can connect with only one candidate at a time and must end that match before moving on to someone else.

The registration process requires users to provide their real names and profile photographs and establish that they are unmarried. The company said its verification checks rejected more than 150 married applicants during the app's first month.

New users then undergo a 20-minute conversation with an AI system, which builds a detailed profile based on their family background, education, profession, interests, personality, lifestyle and expectations from a partner.

The idea is to go beyond basic profile details and understand what users are looking for in a relationship before suggesting a match.

Inspiration behind the app

The start-up was founded by Zeng Xinxun, who previously led the development of AI search technology for Kimi, a chatbot created by Chinese company Moonshot AI.

Zeng's interest in AI-powered matchmaking emerged after he heard about a dating product during an interview. He believed artificial intelligence could use its information-retrieval and reasoning capabilities to understand people more deeply and improve compatibility assessments.

Around the release of Kimi K2 last year, he left his job to establish Liangpei AI, giving up stock options that were subsequently valued at tens of millions of yuan (worth hundreds of millions of rupees).

Speaking to mainland Chinese media outlet AI New Rank, Zeng argued that conventional dating apps largely function as directories of profiles, leaving users to do most of the work of identifying compatible partners. He believes expectations among young people have become more complex, while existing platforms still rely on relatively basic ways of understanding their preferences.

His own experience also influenced the product. Zeng met his wife through a dating app after both had written profiles exceeding 1,000 words. They met after just one day of chatting, and he believes their detailed introductions helped them establish a connection quickly.

Liangpei AI has adopted a similar approach by using extended introductory conversations to understand users before recommending potential partners.

Why the Chinese dating app allows only one match at a time

Zeng believes that offering users too many potential partners can indicate that an algorithm has failed to identify a genuinely compatible person. This thinking led him to introduce the app's one-to-one matching rule.

Under the system, users cannot keep several conversations or matches active simultaneously. They must close an existing match before exploring another possibility.

The app also includes an AI Strategist feature that evaluates relationship difficulties using a user's profile and chat history.

In one instance described in reports, a woman sought advice after her match stopped responding to her messages. The AI tool suggested that even someone with a demanding schedule should communicate an absence within three days. The woman ended the match and subsequently found another partner whom she considered more compatible.

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Three-year refund promise: What happens if users do not get married?

The refund guarantee is one of Liangpei AI's biggest selling points. Zeng believes marriage is a legally defined status that can be verified through authorised and compliant channels, allowing the company to assess whether a subscriber qualifies for a refund.

However, questions remain about how the policy will work in certain situations. For instance, it is unclear whether a subscriber who barely uses the app but gets married through another route would still be eligible to recover the membership fee.

Zeng maintains that matchmaking services should not benefit financially when customers fail to find a partner through their platform. If the service does not help users achieve that goal, he is prepared to return their money.

User base and funding

The app reportedly has more than 35,000 registered users and a conversion rate of around 9 per cent. It has also secured 15 million yuan (approximately Rs 21.08 crore) in angel funding.

However, since the platform was launched only recently, its success in converting matches into long-term relationships or marriages has not yet been established. Its three-year refund promise will also take time to be tested in practice.

Currency conversions are approximate, using an indicative rate of 1 Chinese yuan = Rs 14.05 as of November 11, 2026.