LINKEDIN – June 1 – Bare Dating, a new casual dating app on which users can choose to safely share intimate pictures, is raising funding through Seedr crowdfunding platform. The startup has so far raised close to ~£300K. Bare Dating launched in 2020 and has seen great success with 10K users in the UK.
Category: All Investment Raises
London-based Paired Lands €2.9M
EU STARTUPS – May 26 – Paired, a leading app to improve romantic relationships, has raised €2.9M in seed funding, bringing the total raised by the company to date ~€3.7M. Paired is a fun, evidence-based app that prompts daily conversations between partners. Since launching in October 2020 it has ~5K paying subscribers, with growing audiences in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. The investment will accelerate the company’s global growth ambitions and scale up its product development efforts, giving users personalised recommendations based on their relationship interests and needs.
by Charlotte Tucker
See full article at EU Startups
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Meet Schmooze, a Meme-Based Dating App
TECH CRUNCH – May 26 – Schmooze combines machine learning and memes to connect people based on humor algorithm. A beta test in late summer with 200 Stanford students has since led to 10K downloads around the country. Currently ~200 memes are added each day, while others are deleted. 90K matches have been made to date. It recently closed on $270K in seed funding from Ulu Ventures and others to tinker with its product.
by Connie Loizos
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
Y Combinator-backed Matchmaking Startup Betterhalf.ai Raises $3M
YOUR STORY – May 26 – BetterHalf.ai, the AI-driven matrimonial app, has raised $3M in a pre-Series A round. The startup will use the funding to boost its app engagement, build monetisation features, and product discovery across organic channels, it said in a statement. Earlier, Betterhalf.ai had raised a $2.3M seed round from Y Combinator, Tribe Capital, Nurture Ventures, and Saurabh Garg (Founder/CBO, NoBroker) and Shailesh Rao (Ex-MD of Google India, former Partner, TPG Capital). Founded in 2016 by MIT graduate Rahul Namdev and serial entrepreneur Pawan Gupta, the AI platform uses predictive analysis to help professionals find a match through compatibility scores based on relationship dimensions and their interactions on the product.
by Sindhu Kashyaap
See full article at Your Story
See the top news on Betterhalf.ai
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Chinese Online Dating App Soul Seeks to Raise $100M in U.S. IPO
CAIXIN GLOBAL – May 12 – Tencent-backed social media app operator Soulgate is seeking to raise an initial target of $100M in an IPO in the U.S., betting investors will buy into the growth story of its networking features even as it continues to lose money. Soulgate, whose dating and chatting app Soul targets adults under 30, says it would spend the proceeds mainly on developing its AI, big data capability and technology infrastructure, as well as brand marketing and promotional activities to grow its user base. Soul launched in November 2016, matching users to like-minded individuals online via AI after they take a personality test and list their interests. 74% of its average daily active users (DAUs) are under 30. Soulgate is yet to turn a profit with losses expanding last year to 600.9M yuan ($92.1M), from 348.7M yuan in 2019. In the first quarter of this year, the company's net loss ballooned sixfold YOY to 409.6M yuan. However, the company has posted steady revenue growth, recording 498M yuan ($77M) in total revenues last year, up from 70.7M yuan ($12M) in 2019.
by Timmy Shen & Qian Tong
See full article at Caixin Global
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Snack, a ‘Tinder Meets TikTok’ Dating App, Opens to Gen Z Investors
TECH CRUNCH – May 10 – Snack, a video-first mobile dating app designed with a younger generation in mind, has launched its own Gen Z Syndicate on AngelList, which will allow Gen Z community members, influencers, creators and others to participate in the company's upcoming $2M SAFE, alongside other funds and angel investors. The company in February announced $3.5M in seed funding. Users on Snack post videos to a feed which others then like in order to be matched.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
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British Startup So Syncd Raises €827K
EU-STARTUPS – Apr 27 – So Syncd, a dating app that matches compatible personality types, has raised a seed round of ~€827K to grow its user base in the US. The round is led by Upscalers investment club, with participation from KM Capital, a US VC firm and a number of angel investors. Created by siblings Jessica Alderson and Louella Alderson, So Syncd connects people on a more meaningful level. The app uses Myers-Briggs personality types to match couples. So Syncd now has ~60K users.
by Charlotte Tucker
See full article at EU-Startups
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TrulyMadly Raises $2.1M (₹16 crore) in pre-Series A
THE HINDU BUSINESSLINE – Apr 20 – The app will be deploying the fresh capital to build new product offerings and expanding to new geographies. The round saw participation from Venture Catalysts, 9 Unicorns, early stage investor advisor Jana K Balan, Neil Bahal from Negen Capital, angel investor Ruchi Sihare and existing investors Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels and AngelList. The platform has ~850K users. The start-up raised ₹8.1 crore ($1.1M) from Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels and AngelList last year along with some angels and start-up founders.
See full article at The Hindu BusinessLine
See the top news on TrulyMadly
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Conversational Media ‘Holler’ Raises $36M in Series B
BUSYBODYTRIBUNE – Apr 6 – Holler's partners include Paypal-owned Venmo and The Meet Group, all focus on bringing more content to app messaging. They aim at enriching the conversations happening on media platforms. Holler aims at the creation and curation of the most compelling GIFs and stickers. They are brought to reality through Holler's Suggestion AI Technology. They take into consideration the context and content of the conversation.
Chinese Dating App Maker Seeks IPO in US
PITCHBOOK – Mar 17 – Soul, a Chinese dating app provider, is reportedly in talks with bankers about a deal to go public in the US at a valuation of $1B. Soul seeks to raise $200M in its IPO. Soul has previously raised $60M from investors including DST Global, Genesis Capital and 5Y Capital.
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