Nicky Wake was just 49 years old when she lost her husband Andy to Covid.
He had already been unwell for three years after suffering with major brain damage from a heart attack in 2017.
But when the pandemic hit, Nicky’s world was plunged into an even deeper crisis.
‘I knew this was the beginning of our end,’ she told the Mail.
‘I knew there was no way he would survive that.’
Shock: Nicky Wake (pictured) set up widows and widowers-only dating app Chapter2 after enduring the ‘wild-west’ of online dating sites like Tinder, HInge and Bumble
That end came on April 17, 2020, when her partner of 18 years passed away, leaving Nicky alone in lockdown with their 12-year-old son.
But after a year in a ‘black hole of grief’, Nicky, now 53, decided it was time to get back out there.
Signing up to Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, she soon discovered it was a ‘Wild West’.
‘It was all lewd pictures, ghosting and married men. I thought there must be an app for widows,’ she said.
In 2022 she decided to take the matter into her own hands, setting up the UK’s first widows-only app – Chapter 2 – a space where widows and widowers can connect and find their second love story.
Users must provide so- called widow-verification to sign up – a death certificate or memorial page.
Aside from chatting on the app, its members are also invited to monthly meet-ups across the country.
This is a huge opportunity to tap into the estimated 3.1m bereaved partners in the UK.
Chapter 2 currently has 8,000 users, with many of them paying the subscription fee of £34.99 a month to be able to match and chat.
And after just 18 months, Wake claims there are at least 20 successful couples, as well as Chapter 2’s first proposal, with a wedding planned for October.
The oldest member she has met is 84, who Wake says is ‘absolutely fabulous’.
But another key goal is breaking down the taboos about older women.
Success: Chapter 2 currently has 8,000 users, with many of them paying the subscription fee of £34.99 a month to be able to match and chat
‘As a 50-year-old, I am hitting my prime… You are confident and self-aware. You know what you want,’ she said.
‘Just because we are over 50, doesn’t mean we stop having sex. It’s a really important part of who we are and our identity.
‘And isn’t it wonderful you can’t get pregnant any more!’ With a combination of her own cash, as well as £150,000 from investors, Chapter 2 is launching in the US and Australia this week, and Canada next week.
Chapter 2 is also running advertising campaigns on ITV and across radio stations to drive subscriptions.
Wake said that ‘hundreds of people’ have already signed up across the Atlantic for the app.
But it is a busy time for Wake, who is running Chapter 2 alongside her events group Don’t Panic Projects, which she set up in 2005.
But despite her ambitions for the app, she is also a realist.
‘We are a niche. We will never be Bumble, Hinge or Tinder, we are never going to try to take them on,’ she said.
But she added: ‘My plan is to grow it for five years. And then hopefully sell it to one of the larger dating companies.’
And this is a well-trodden path for dating apps, which have been gradually snapped up by the likes of Match Group.
However the beating heart of Chapter 2 is about leaving a legacy for her late husband. ‘Andy would be so proud that I have taken the world’s most devastating and negative thing and created something positive,’ she said, adding that she is yet to find a new partner herself.
‘It is a love letter for a love we never got to finish,’ she said.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
AJ Bell
AJ Bell
Easy investing and ready-made portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free fund dealing and investment ideas
interactive investor
interactive investor
Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month
eToro
eToro
Share investing: 30+ million community
Trading 212
Trading 212
Free share dealing and no account fee
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.
