Kaan Divitoglu

Kaan Divo is the founder and CEO of Laila, a New York–based dating app rethinking how people meet in real life. Frustrated by swipe-based platforms that prioritize engagement over outcomes, he built Laila around a simple idea: instead of matching first, users post real date plans and choose who to join them—shifting dating from endless browsing to real-world action. Since launching in 2025, Laila has grown to over 12,000 users and facilitated thousands of real-life dates, with significantly higher match-to-date conversion rates than traditional dating apps. The company is positioned at the intersection of social discovery, marketplaces, and AI-driven intent matching. Before founding Laila, Kaan worked at Deloitte and later at NewtonX, where he led the development of a creator insights...