A dating website that promises to pair Americans with Canadians has seen a huge spike in users since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.
On Nov. 5, the app launched publicly and immediately there were thousands of Canadians and Americans using it, Goldman said.
Since the the results of the presidential election Tuesday, Goldman said Maple Match membership tripled in one day.
“It’s been massive. We’re experiencing tremendous growth and even had a meeting on how to upgrade our servers,” he said.
“We did not expect this, as I don’t think many people were expecting a Trump victory.”
READ MORE: New dating website offers to connect Americans looking to escape Trump with Canadians
The app asks users their political preferences and beliefs. Unlike other dating apps, there isn’t a swipe option. Instead Maple Match chooses a set of matches based on the user’s preferences.
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Remy said when she heard about the app through a friend, she was pretty sure it was a joke.
“But then they launched it for real and it seemed like a really great way to at least make friends,” she said.
The rise of Maple Match
Goldman, a 55-year-old man from Austin, Texas, said growing up he knew a lot of people from Calgary and became close with a lot of Canadians. Through the friendships he said he discovered Canadian and American values were similar.
“When the U.S. election process happened, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, wouldn’t this be great if Americans and Canadians had a chance to date?’ Since then, we have been actively working to build Maple Match,” he said.
READ MORE: Huge spike in US web traffic crashed Canada’s immigration site election night
Goldman said interest for his service is high, but it hasn’t matched anyone yet.
He also said he isn’t funded by any anti-Trump group, he just wanted to offer people a way to meet their “ideal Canadian partner.”
As of Thursday, Maple Match was ranked the 67th social networking app in the Apple App Store.
Will Americans start moving?
It seems a large number of Americans really were interested in finding out what it takes to immigrate to Canada after Trump’s victory.
Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) website crashed on election nightdue to a huge spike in web traffic, more than half of which came from U.S. web addresses. According to a spokesperson, the CIC website began experiencing server issues around 11 p.m. Tuesday, right around the time it became clear a Trump win was imminent.
READ MORE: Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration website crashes as Trump leads in election results
The number of American citizens immigrating to Canada spiked in 2003, back when U.S. and allied forces invaded Iraq, and rose again sharply when Bush was re-elected in 2004. It started to fall again after President Barack Obama was elected in 2008.
Some 34,000 more Americans emigrated to Canada in 10 years, starting with Bush’s 2004 re-election, than in the previous decade. Immigration from the United States to Canada doubled between 2002 and 2008, from just under 5,000 to just over 10,000.
U.S. immigration to Canada, 1955-2014
*With files from Nicole Bogart
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