BUSINESS INSIDER – Oct 22 – Like Tinder, Hinge lets users see profiles of single people nearby. They can like or nix a profile. Unlike Tinder, Hinge only connects friends of friends. At the end of 2012, Hinge only had $32K left in the bank. Justin McLeod's, Hinge's founder and CEO, raised $100K a few months prior, but only a few thousand people were using it. $25,000 went to a hail-mary pass: a massive 2K-person launch party in Washington. Two weeks before the party, Apple rejected Hinge's app. The morning of the party, Apple finally approved the app. Hinge is now one of New York's hottest startups. In July Hinge raised $4.5M, bringing its total funding to $8.6M. The app makes ~8M matches a month. (Tinder, by comparison, makes 15M matches per day).
Category: All Investment Raises
Rocket Internet, The Company Behind eDarling, Raised $445M
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 14 – Rocket Internet is one of the most successful and controversial startup incubators in the world. Last week, the Berlin-based startup accelerator raised $445M at a $4.5B valuation. And it’s reported to be shooting for an IPO soon, with hopes of reaching a valuation as high as $6.7B. Rocket Internet's strategy is to copy ideas that work in certain markets and build the same exact business model in regions that haven’t yet been explored. It launched eDarling in 2008, a copy-cat of eHarmony. The site now operates in 20-plus countries. eHarmony was a 30% shareholder until 2013. eDarling focused on mostly non-English-speaking countries, but have announced plans to expand to the U.K. and Ireland recently.
by Eugene Kim
See full article at Business Insider
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Three Day Rule – The Matchmaker That Attracted Match.com
BIZWOMEN – July 23 – Talia Goldstein started her matchmaking business, Three Day Rule (TDR) in 2010. She now employs a team of 12 full-time matchmakers, with plans to grow that number to 30 by the end of the year. Match has just partnered with TDR and held a Series A round for an undisclosed sum. Match will incorporate the elite TDR service onto its site, and the funds will be used to scale the service and expand the TDR team. The starting price for TDR service is $5K for 6 months.
“Heyy” Dating App Bets On Missed Connections
BALTIMORE SUN – July 7 – Heyy, a Baltimore startup, wants to connect people who saw each other for a brief moment but did not feel comfortable asking for a number. Heyy is one of six companies accepted into this year's AccelerateBaltimore program, which helps entrepreneurs with innovative ideas get funding. The app received $25K in funding.
by Jamie Smith Hopkins
See full article at Baltimore Sun
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Hinge Raised $4.5M
TECH CRUNCH – July 2 – VCs Founders Fund and Lowercase Capital invested $4.5M in online dating app, Hinge. Hinge delivers a daily set of tailored matches based on users' profession, education and interests. Hinge’s iOS and Android userbase grew 300% this year in the nine cities it operates in: DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, San Fransicso, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and L.A. The new round brings it to $8.6M in total funding. The money will go to focusing on new product features.
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
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Flikdate Raises $350K For Video Dating App
PR NEWSWIRE – June 26 – Flikdate, the mobile video dating app, will use these funds to launch Version 2.0, incorporating a new video platform, real-time chat, and video messaging.
See full article at PR Newswire
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Moovz Secures $1.4M In New Funding
TECHINASIA – May 23 – Moovz has secured a new $1.4M round, bringing total funding to $2.4M since launch last October. The Israel-based startup is a location-based flirting app for gay males. The app has over 70K users, up from 30K in February. Moovz has seen 15M chats, 9M comments, and 500K image uploads. The app is most popular in the Philippines, followed by Mexico, the US, and Brazil.
by Steven Millward
See full article at TechInAsia
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LoveStruck Wants To Raise New Funding Via InvestingZone
CROWDFUNDINSIDER – May 7 – InvestingZone, the equity crowdfunding platform, will be helping Lovestruck.com raise capital to fuel its international expansion. The company is looking to raise ~£800K. LoveStruck.com connects urban professionals who live or work nearby via web and mobile. Founded in 2006 in UK, Lovestruck claims ~150K subscribers. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore, which are now responsible for a third of total revenues.
by Samantha Hurst
See full article at CrowfundInsider
Learn more about Courtland Brooks
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Gay Social Network “Hornet” Attracts 3M Users
SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES – Apr 26 – Hornet, the gay dating app that launched in 2011, has attracted 3M users and that number is growing 20% month a month. In addition to the US, it is very popular in Brazil, France, Russia and Turkey. The app raised $2M. It makes money with advertising and by selling premium accounts.
by Patrick Hoge
See full article at San Francisco Business Times
Zoosk Files For $100M IPO
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 17 – Zoosk just filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC, announcing its plans to raise $100M in an IPO. Zoosk posted a net loss of $2.6M in 2013 on revenues of $178M. As part of the filing, Zoosk provided details of its global business, which includes 26M members worldwide and 650K paying subscribers across 80 countries. That’s up from the 18M registered members and 483K paying subscribers a year earlier. Zoosk had raised $60M since 2007.
by Ryan Lawler
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.