only 18+
Mayfair · Chelsea · Notting Hill · Hampstead · Canary Wharf
A private introduction agency for people who keep their lives quiet
in London
In London the word people search for is often introduction agency, and the expectation behind it is old-fashioned in a good way: someone discreet, who knows both sides, makes the introduction. Velin Privé works like that, for men and for women. The difference is how far the search goes. We do not wait for the right person to join a list. We go and find them.
Long hours, short evenings,
and the same twenty people
London careers eat the week. A deal team in the City or Canary Wharf, chambers in Holborn, a scale-up in Shoreditch: the hours are long and the social life that remains tends to be with the same colleagues, the same school friends, the same dinner table in Chelsea or Islington. People at this level rarely meet anyone new by accident.
And when they try on purpose, the city is less forgiving than it looks. Professional circles overlap, everyone has a mutual friend, and a public profile is seen by exactly the people you would rather it was not. Many of our London members simply stopped looking, not because they gave up on a relationship, but because every available route felt either exposed or random.
Half the people worth meeting
were not born here
London is one of the few cities where an international search is the default rather than the exception. Members are French bankers in South Kensington, Italian architects in Notting Hill, Americans who came for two years and stayed for ten, and Londoners who grew up in Hampstead and want someone who has lived elsewhere. A brief here often covers language, a second home country and where the children would go to school.
That is why the search does not stop at the M25. It starts with our own database, then moves to wherever the person you describe is most likely to be: Paris, Geneva, New York or another part of the UK. Our international matchmaking network exists for exactly this kind of brief.
Velin Privé Target Search
in London
We work with men and women alike, because every search runs on Velin Privé Target Search. Velin Privé Target Search is executive search for your personal life, built on marketing expertise. We use the same tools that businesses use to find a specific customer, and apply them to finding one specific person: a precise portrait of who you are looking for, targeted outreach to the people who match it, first in our own database, then far beyond it. Every candidate is personally vetted before an introduction.
In London a precise portrait matters more than reach. The city has millions of single adults and very few who fit a specific brief: the right age, the right ambitions, comfortable with your hours and your discretion. We describe that person in writing and then go looking for them, across the City, the professions and international London, then in Paris, Geneva or New York if the portrait points there.
Memberships start at $1,840 for 6 months. Velin Privé Target Search is available on any membership, from $700. All tiers are on our pricing page.
The men who fit
are not looking in public
Women in London who have built a serious career tell us the same thing. The men who would suit them are working, travelling or quietly assuming the right person will appear through friends. They are not browsing. So we go to them: your matchmaker approaches men who fit the portrait you signed off, checks each of them, and you hear a name only once he has been vetted and has said yes.
Why women with careers like yours hand the search over is the subject of why successful women choose private matchmaking .
Ask your questions
on a call
Bring the London questions to the call: a name people in your industry recognise, a partner who could live between two countries, a family with firm expectations. We will tell you honestly how the search would run before you commit to anything.
From a call
to a first meeting
- 01
A call that fits your diary. Thirty minutes, early in the morning or after the markets close, about your life in London and what you want next.
- 02
A written brief. A questionnaire and two long interviews turn into a portrait of the person you want to meet: the country they might come from, the language at home, whether you would stay in London or move.
- 03
Search, network first. We start with people already known to us, then approach people in London, elsewhere in the UK and in Europe who fit the brief. Every second week you get a written update.
- 04
A hosted first meeting. When both of you have said yes, separately, your matchmaker hosts a first conversation by video. Dinner in Marylebone or Notting Hill comes after that, if you both want it.
What happens between the brief and the first name is explained in what a professional matchmaker actually does .
A city of eight million
and one shared address book
London feels anonymous until you are senior in it. Then every introduction runs through a handful of firms, clubs and schools, and discretion stops being a preference and becomes a requirement. With us there is no profile to find: your name reaches a potential match only after you agree, and the first meeting is a private video call.
If your week is split with the continent, see our Paris page . If your other office is in Manhattan, our New York page covers it. Memberships and what each includes are on our pricing page .
What London agencies
charge, side by side
London has the oldest high-end introduction market in Europe, and most of it sits within a mile of Mayfair and Knightsbridge. The established agencies sell long memberships paid up front, and almost none print a price on their website. These are the figures the firms publish or that press and reviewers have reported.
| Service | Model | Published or reported price |
|---|---|---|
| Velin Privé | Own network + active search, worldwide | $1,840–$6,210, 6 to 18 months |
| Ignite Dating | UK introduction agency | from $4,700 per contract |
| Berkeley International | London agency | from $20,000 a year |
| Gray & Farrar | London agency | from $20,000 per contract |
| Maclynn International | London agency | from $24,000 per contract |
| Kelleher International | Elite agency, 12-month minimum | $30,000–$300,000 a year |
Prices in US dollars, checked 23 October 2026 from the firms' own sites, press coverage and independent reviewers. Several are estimates, because most firms quote only after a consultation. The full comparison of 19 services is in our matchmaker cost calculator.
The gap is mostly about who does the searching. At the top of the London market you pay for a well-known matchmaker's book of contacts. With us you pay for a search that starts in our network and then goes out to find the person in your brief, in London, elsewhere in the UK or abroad, at a published price.
What people in London
ask us first
Is Velin Privé an introduction agency in London?
In the British sense, yes: a person who knows both sides makes every introduction, and nothing is public. What we add is an active search. Instead of matching you only with existing members, we write a portrait of the person you want to meet and go looking for them in London and beyond.
I am a woman looking for a man in London. Can you help?
Yes. We work with women and men alike. Your search runs on Velin Privé Target Search: we write down who the man is, where he lives, what he does and what he wants from family life, then approach men who fit, in our database first and then well beyond it, in London, the UK or abroad. Each one is vetted before you hear his name.
I work in finance and know half of London professionally. How discreet is this?
There is no profile and no directory. Your name and photograph go to a potential match only after you agree, and the first meeting is a private video call hosted by your matchmaker. We are used to members whose firms, clients and friends overlap.
Can you find someone who also wants to live between London and another country?
Yes, and it is a common brief here. We record where you actually spend your year and where you might live in five years. The search can then include Paris, Geneva, Milan or New York, not only London.
I am not British. Does that make the search harder?
No. A large share of our London members came from elsewhere, and many want a partner who shares a language or a home country. That goes into the brief and shapes who we reach out to, as much as age or career does.
Do you only work in central London?
No. Members live in Mayfair and Chelsea, but also in Hampstead, Richmond, the Surrey commuter belt and the Cotswolds at weekends. We plan introductions around where you actually are, not around a postcode.
How much does a matchmaker in London cost?
Established London agencies such as Berkeley International, Gray & Farrar and Maclynn start at about $20,000, and Kelleher International's reported range runs from about $30,000 a year. UK introduction agencies such as Ignite start lower, at about $4,700. Velin Privé is priced in US dollars for every city: $1,840 for 6 months, $3,496 for 12 and $6,210 for 18, with Target Search from $700.
How long does a search in London usually take?
Most first introductions come four to eight weeks after the brief is written. A brief that needs someone recruited from outside our network, for example a partner who would move to London, takes longer. We do not promise a date, but you receive a written report every two weeks, so you always know where the search stands.
Apply
If your London life is full and the one part that matters most is still missing, book a private call and tell us who you are looking for. It is free and there is no obligation.
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