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Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)
Aisle, an Indian Dating App, Attracted 3.4M Users
YOUR STORY – Nov 11 - Aisle, Bengaluru-based app, brings together dating and matrimony on the same platform. Aisle was founded in 2014 by Able Joseph. In the past six years, Aisle has raised ~$300K from some of the biggest angel investors in the country, including serial entrepreneur Sanjay Mehta, Facebook Director Anand Chandrashekaran, and Udhyam founder Mekin Maheshwari. For the first 1,000 days, Aisle was a hand-picked community with every user being vetted by the team. Today, the app claims 3.4M members across 193 countries. Aisle was initially built with millennials in mind, but towards the end of 2017, it had an organic explosion of Gen Z audience. Currently, the team is focused on their new feature 'Rooms', introduced a few months after the lockdown was announced to help singles not just match online, but also have their first date via the Internet.
As You Are (AYA) – Indian LGBTQ Dating App
THE HINDU – Nov 4 – Two years ago, when the Supreme Court read down Article 377, decriminalizing homosexuality in India, Sunali Aggarwal had an idea. She began working on a new app, As You Are (AYA). After users fill in basic details, that include gender, orientation, an email address and a phone number, they have to upload a selfie which is verified by the team. The app is in English, and sees 60 people sign up daily with ~5K+ downloads to date. Going beyond just dating, AYA also hopes to provide a space to make friends within the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
BharatMatrimony Introduces 100% ID Verified Profiles
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA – Nov 2 – BharatMatrimony, India's leading matrimony service, is launching Prime, a membership service that offers 100% ID verified profiles. To be eligible for BharatMatrimony Prime, members should 1) Hold a degree (graduation or above), 2) Verify their ID (driving license, passport, PAN card or ration card) and 3) Upload a profile photo. BharatMatrimony has recently launched a slew of new features to provide a safe environment to female members. These include:
- Control who can view and contact you
- Unique SecureConnect feature which lets members receive calls from prospects without revealing their mobile number
- Choose who can video call with you
Hawaya Dating App for Muslims Arrive in Malaysia
POKDE.NET – Nov 2 – Hawaya (owned by Match Group) is a Cairo-based dating app, founded in April 2017 by four Egyptian entrepreneurs. Hawaya is inspired by the word "Hawa" which translates to "love" in Arabic. According to the company, Hawaya carefully curates a culturally-acceptable solution to matchmaking. Users have to answer a series of questionnaires and authenticate their profile through a selfie verification process.
by Raja Idris
See full article at Pokde.net
Indian Matchmakers Explain Why Young Indians Still Go for Arranged Marriages
Bumble Survey Findings Show a Shift Towards ‘Slow Dating’
TIMES OF INDIA – Oct 21 – Bumble's recent survey shows that 70% of Bumble users in India claim there is a change in their behaviour and attitude towards dating as compared to before the pandemic. 81% claim they are more open to taking their time getting to know someone. 78% of single Indians are talking for a longer period, and having better quality chats, using Voice Calls and Video chat features in the app. People are spending ~20 mins on average on a video chat or voice call on Bumble in India.
Indian Dating App Aisle Unveils ‘Rooms’
BUSINESSWORLD – Oct 20 – Aisle is launching Rooms, a new live streaming feature where users can interact-before-matching. Once a host has created a Room, any numbers of users can join and wait for their turn for an audio conversation. All conversations that take place within a Room are broadcasted and can be listened to by any Aisle user. Each conversation between a host and a guest lasts for 5 minutes – after that, the host can either choose to match or to pass. Both parties are also given the option to end the conversation at any time with the 'Pass' button. Rooms will be rolled out to the entire user base in Q1 2021.
How Blued Blazed Trail to US Stock Market
NIKKEI ASIA – Oct 16 – The Founder of Blued was police officer by day and online activist by night. Ma Baoli built a business that runs from livestreaming to health care and family planning and made to the U.S. stock market. In July, Blued's parent company, Beijing-based BlueCity Holdings, raised $84.8m in its Nasdaq IPO. Ma founded BlueCity in his Beijing apartment. It is not illegal to be gay in China, but homosexuality was considered a mental disorder until 2001. Ma poured 50k yuan ($7,400), his savings, into building Blued which went viral with 500k users the following year. In 2020 the market valuation is $335m and has DCM Ventures, Xiaomi's investment arm Shunwei Capital and Hong Kong property group New World Development as backers, and has 500 employees. Zank was Blued's chief competitor and was shut down by Chinese regulators in 2017. Lesbian dating app, Rela, was temporarily removed from the Android and Apple app stores in 2017 to undergo an "important adjustment in services."
The global LGBTQ community spent $261B online in 2018, and is expected to double by 2023, according to Frost & Sullivan. BlueCity remains unprofitable reporting a net loss of 3.3m yuan in Q2 2020. Shares trade 40% below their IPO price. BlueCity has piggybacked on the rise of online celebrities, generating 210m yuan, 85% of its revenue, in Q2 2020.
Bumble Introduces Three New Filters in India
HINDUSTAN TIMES – Oct 13 – The three new filters include virtual, socially-distanced and socially-distanced with masks. The company says that the new badges will give the Bumble community the opportunity to skip the potentially awkward conversation about how they are comfortable dating post lockdown, and what kind of dates they would like to go on. Bumble also cited a recent study wherein it found out that 78% of its users would be perfectly happy to meet up in person.