Category: All Investment Raises

SparkStarter Hits 100,000 Downloads, Raises $250K

Posted on April 9, 2015

Sparkstarter logoTWIN CITIES BUSINESS – Apr 8 - SparkStarter said its mobile app has 100K downloads and 10M profiles created. The app, which launched just before Valentine’s Day, offers features similar to Tinder but it’s the matchmaker feature that sets it apart: Users can set their friends up on dates by rating pairings of their connections on Facebook. The company raised $250,000 in funding recently, with another quarter of a million coming via open round.

by Andre Eggert
See full article at Twin Cities Business

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Chinese Dating App Qingchifan Secures Series B Funding

Posted on April 8, 2015

Qingchifan logoTECHINASIA – Apr 7 – Qingchifan, a dating app for meeting up with strangers for dinner dates, has raised a series B round of funding led by Vertex Ventures, followed by Sequoia Capital. The exact amount was not disclosed, but is reported to be $20.5M. Qingchifan, which translates to "invite to eat," looks a lot like Momo, the location-based app for meeting strangers. Launched in February 2014, Quingchifan now reports 10M registered users, of whom 45% are female. The average user is 23-24 years old.

by Paul Bischoff
See full article at TechInAsia

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Lesbian Dating App Dattch Raises $1M And Rebrands To “Her”

Posted on March 17, 2015

Her screenshotTECH CITY NEWS – Mar 17 – Having found its users weren’t quite sure of the name, Robyn Exton has rebranded his lesbian dating app Dattch to Her. Robyn Exton has also revealed a seed round that will see the company expanding in the US market, while going increasingly global. The investors include Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, Michael Birch, founder of Bebo, and Andy McLoughlin from Huddle.

by Kirsty Styles
See full article at Tech City News

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Dating App Courtem Lands Mark Cuban As Adviser, Investor

Posted on March 11, 2015

Courtem co-foundersDALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL – Mar 10 – Courtem, a Dallas-based startup's dating app, has attracted the attention of one of the most prominent Dallas entrepreneurs and investors: Mark Cuban. The von Gontard brothers – Peter, Alex, Adie, Andrew – created Courtem nine months ago and launched it on Dec. 4. The startup has so far raised $3M from a group of investors. Courtem allows users to instantly propose a date to other users.

by Danielle Abril
See full article at Dallas Business Journal

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Indian Online Dating Startup TrulyMadly Raises $5.6M

Posted on March 2, 2015

Trulymadly screenshotFIRST POST – Mar 2 – TrulyMadly, an Indian-origin online dating and matchmaking app with ~200K installs, has raised Rs. 35 crore ($5.6M) in their first round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital. Co-founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra and Rahul Kumar, TrulyMadly launched its app in August 2014. TrulyMadly mobile app lets singles discover each other through shared interests and personality profiles. TrulyMadly 's app allocates a ‘Trust Score’ to each new user; a higher Trust Score increases the number of potential matches for a user. Users can boost their Trust Score by getting their phone number and photo ID verified. All users need ~30% Trust Score to use the app.

by Sulekha Nair
See full article at First Post

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

The League: The World’s Most Exclusive Dating App

Posted on February 26, 2015

The league menuBUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 26 - The League is a new dating app that uses its own algorithm to judge whether members are cool and ambitious enough to join. Right now it's in beta stage, so not everyone can get into it. Current members have all been carefully selected by creator Amanda Bradford's team using the code. It's predominantly populated by doctors, lawyers, and tech execs. What sets The League apart from its counterparts is its reliance on LinkedIn to determine user credentials. The League just raised $2.1M in funding. It's soon to expand to New York and there are plans to move to London too.

by Joshua Barrie
See full article at Business Insider

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

College Party App Wigo Raised $1.5M

Posted on February 25, 2015

Wigo app screenshotBOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL – Feb 24 – Wigo, a Boston-based app that lets college students find parties and meet new people, has raised $1.5M in venture funding, bringing its total valuation to $14M. The company now has $2M in funding.

by Sara Castellanos
See full article at Boston Business Journal

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

‘The League’ Dating App Is For Successful People

Posted on February 19, 2015

The league logoWSJ – Feb 19 – The League, which launched in January and has raised $2.1M is for people who are “too popular as it is,” according to its site. 30% of the app’s users have advanced degrees, and 18% are executives, VPs or founders, according to The League’s founder and CEO Amanda Bradford. The app has a long wait list. 80K people currently are waiting for admission. The League isn’t the only player trying to get a piece of the more than $2B that the online dating industry is worth in the U.S., estimates Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, a firm that helps dating companies with business development and media relations. Bradford claims The League’s market lies somewhere between those of staid Match or eHarmony, and Tinder. “The goal is to keep The League well-balanced, diverse and classy,” Bradford says.

by Georgia Wells
See full article at WSJ

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Coffee Meets Bagel Lands $7.8 Million In Series A

Posted on February 19, 2015

Coffee meets bagel logoTECH CRUNCH – Feb 18 - Coffee Meets Bagel has closed a $7.8M Series A financing round led by existing investor DCM Ventures. Question Ventures and Azure Capital also participated in the round. Launched in 2012, Coffee Meets Bagel aims to find one quality match for their users every day by using friend-of-a-friend connections on Facebook. IF both parties like their match, Coffee Meets Bagel gives the budding couple a discount on a first date activity, like grabbing a coffee or a drink. Users have 24 hours to respond to a match before it expires.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Dating Startups Get No Love From Venture Capitalists

Posted on February 13, 2015

CBINSIGNTS – Feb 12 – Despite Tinder's popularity, dating startups have seen lukewarm investment activity from venture capitalists. VC investors put just under $65M into online and mobile dating startups last year. The funding trend to dating startups has been up and down but has not topped $100M in any of the past five years.

Dating site funding chartSee full article at CBInsights

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting