Category: All Investment Raises

Chinese Online Dating App Soul Seeks to Raise $100M in U.S. IPO

Posted on May 12, 2021

Soul app iconCAIXIN 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

See the top news on Soul

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Snack, a ‘Tinder Meets TikTok’ Dating App, Opens to Gen Z Investors

Posted on May 10, 2021

Snack logoTECH 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

See the top news on Snack

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British Startup So Syncd Raises €827K

Posted on April 27, 2021

Sosyncd iconEU-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

See the top news on So Syncd

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TrulyMadly Raises $2.1M (₹16 crore) in pre-Series A

Posted on April 20, 2021

Trulymadly logo 2020THE 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

Posted on April 6, 2021

Holler logoBUSYBODYTRIBUNE – 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.

See full article at BodyBusyTribune

See the top news on The Meet Group

Chinese Dating App Maker Seeks IPO in US

Posted on March 17, 2021

Soul logoPITCHBOOK – 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.

See full article at Pitchbook

See the top news on Soul

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Lolly, “TikTok Meets Tinder” Dating App, Raises Seed Funding

Posted on March 16, 2021

Lolly logo 2021GLOBE NEWSWIRE – Mar 15 – Lolly is the brainchild of Babson College senior Marc Baghadjian and NYU graduate, Sacha Schermerhorn. Lolly was born out of their frustration with dating apps. Lolly allows users to showcase their personality through videos and find people based on common interests. Lolly has attracted the attention of John Sculley (former CEO of Apple), Ron Conway's SV Angel, John Pleasants (former President of IAC), Blair Shane (former CMO of Sequoia Capital), Jane Metcalfe (co-founder of WIRED), Scott Eagle (former CMO of E-Harmony), Mitch Lowe (Founding Executive at Netflix), among others. In keeping with its focus on the Gen Z experience, Lolly is also currently working with investor California Crescent Fund, a student-run venture fund located in Southern California, to assist in community building and growth.

See full article at Globe Newswire

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Sam Yagan Raising $200M for Blank-check Company

Posted on March 2, 2021

Sam yagan3CHICAGO BUSINESS – Mar 2 – Yagan is a well-known founder, CEO and investor. He was CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce company that is being acquired by FedEx. He previously was CEO of Match Group, which acquired OkCupid. He also co-founded Excelerate Labs, which later became TechStars Chicago. He plans to raise $200M in an IPO for a special-purpose acquisition company called Corazon Capital V838 Monoceros. The company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, takes its name from the Chicago-based venture-capital firm run by Yagan and longtime business partners Steve Farsht and Phil Schwarz. As a blank-check company, Yagan and his team have 24 months to find an acquisition. Corazon says it's targeting businesses with "consumer-facing technology, subscription- or recurring-revenue models, marketplaces and networks, or those that operate in sectors such as education, social media and dating, and e-commerce."

by John Pletz
See full article at Chicago Business

Billionaire Ruben Vardanyan Invests in AI-Based Dating Service iris Dating

Posted on February 28, 2021

Iris iconFORBES – Feb 24 – Vardanyan became a shareholder in iris Dating (NYC) which is powered by AI. "I understand that if by 2030 45% of Europeans are single, and if we see that people live another 30-40 years longer and at the same time many of them do not have a second half, then loneliness becomes one of the most important elements of the future world," Ruben reasoned.

iris Dating uses AI to understand the visual preferences of each user. AI determines what is interesting to a particular person and finds the photo which the user will like. On dating apps women like 3-5% of male profiles. On iris, girls like 30%. The service has selfie verification, and a reliability rating. Growth Director Daniel Mori is on the team and was VP Marketing at Zoosk for 5 years.

Mark Brooks (of Courtland Brooks) says "AI is most useful when we can see if people are successful in relationships. But this is difficult to do because users remove dating apps when they decide to end their online dating, which usually means they are happy or unhappy. Typically, we don't know the exact cause, and the AI ​​isn't getting the most optimal information." He estimates that it will cost $400,000 to develop a scalable, world-class dating application.

by Irina Yuzbekova
See full article at Forbes

See the top news on iris Dating

Snack, Where TikTok Meets Dating, Gets $3.5M

Posted on February 22, 2021

Snack iconTECH CRUNCH – Feb 22 – Snack, founded by Kimberly Kaplan, looks to merge the popularity and format of TikTok with the dating world. Kaplan hails from Plenty of Fish, where she was one of the earliest employees. She led product, marketing and revenue and was on the executive team that eventually sold PoF to Match Group for $575M in 2015. Snack is a video-first dating app that asks users to create a video and post it to a feed. Other users can scroll through a feed rather than swipe right or left on individual profiles, and when someone likes a video, it opens up the ability to comment. Once two users have liked each others' videos, DMs are open. Kaplan said that Snack is also working on video editing features similar to that of TikTok to let people get super creative with their profiles. There are 10 people on the Snack team.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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