EXCHANGE4MEDIA – Feb 21 – Members of BharatMatrimony can now walk into any of Times of India's network of franchisees and subscribe to BharatMatrimony's matchmaking services at a special price.
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ECONOMIC TIMES – Feb 19 – Bumble's aggressive entry into India has made existing players raise their game. Tinder CEO Elie Seidman denies any impact on the market leader. However, Bumble's overall idea of a "social network by women for everyone" has created tremors in the Indian dating app space, where apps, including Tinder, are struggling to get and retain women users. Tinder has a clear advantage, though, being the first mover. In India since 2014, it is the second-best grossing app on Android in India. Bumble has made it to the list of the top 50 highest-grossing apps on Android in India. "Our biggest competitors are actually the moms and friends who help you find a suitable match," insists Elie Seidman.
by Shephali Bhatt
See full article at Economic Times
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6PR – Feb 19 – Lumen, a new dating app for over 50s is launching in Australia. Charly Lester, the creator of Lumen, said there were apps for younger people and even online outlets for over 75s but singles in their 50s and 60s were missing out. The app launched in September 2018 and has already attracted 300K members worldwide.
by Steve Mills & Basil Zempilas
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THE ECONOMIC TIMES – Feb 19 – Primarily marketed to women – specifically those who are already in a relationship – Gleeden was launched in France in 2009 and arrived in India in 2017. Today, it has ~4.9 M registered users globally, mostly from the EU. In India, it has crossed ~300K subscribers within less than two years of its launch. Gleeden.com is run by a female team and is completely free for women users.
The full article was originally published at Economic Times, but is no longer available.
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YOUR STORY – Feb 14 – On September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Section 377 does not apply to consensual homosexual sex, decriminalising homosexuality. The archaic law from the Indian Penal Code, imposed by the British in 1861, was finally taken down after decades of battle by activists and advocates of the LGBTQIA+ community. Ishaan Sethi, the founder of India's first homegrown dating app for the LGBTQIA+ community, recalls, "It was the highlight of my life." Delta launched in April 2018. Almost 80% of its growth is organic, says the founder. At present, there are ~65K active users on the platform. It is seed-funded by Shunwei Capital, Co-founder of TrulyMadly.com Sachin Bhatia, and HNIs such as such as Keshav Suri and Ritu Dalmia. Currently, Ishaan is in talks for Series A funding round. For 2019, Delta is looking to building its tech team and addressing the needs of the non-urban queer population with localised features such as language options, since almost 50% of users are from small cities and towns. Delta is not just a dating app. It offers three main services – Connect, Network, and Community.
by Amruta Lakhe
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CRUNCHBASE – Feb 14 – In 2018, venture investors put $127M globally into 27 dating-focused startups. It's certainly tiny compared to the ~$300B in global venture investment across all sectors last year. While the US is home to the majority of funded startups in the dating category, the bulk of investment has gone to China. In 2018, ~80% of dating-related investment went to a single company – Blued, a Grindr-style hookup app for gay men. In 2017, the bulk of capital went to Chinese mobile dating app Tantan, and in 2014, Beijing-based matchmaking site Baihe raised ~$250M. Meanwhile, in the U.S, we are seeing an assortment of startups raising smaller rounds.
by Joanna Glasner
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ENTREPRENEUR – Feb 14 – Darren Chan is the founder and CEO of Malaysia's first and only sugar dating platform Sugarbook. Before, he founded Gigfairy, Malaysia's first live music booking platform, which later got acquired by Tune Studios of the AirAsia Group. According to Chan, sugar dating is a modern kind of dating. The app claims 300K members from 60 countries, predominantly from Malaysia, the US, Singapore and the Philippines. ~70% of the members are student "Sugar Babies" from universities, single mothers and divorcees. "Sugar Daddies" range between the age of 30-55, with an average annual income of $150K to $300K. Sugarbook has recently raised a six-digit figure from an undisclosed benefactor. Chan was bootstrapping from the beginning and it took him over four months to be able to pay his first hire.
by Pooja Singh
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THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS – Feb 8 – The wedding industry in India is over $15B, and the online matrimonial market is expected to reach $318million by 2020. In India, arranged marriages have been the norm since time immemorial but in the last two decades we have seen a sea change. Now youngsters want to marry a person of their choice rather than that of their parents. Gorav Aggarwal started lovevivah.com in 2012 and has a 5-point authentication program.
See full article at The New Indian Express
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THE MOTLEY FOOL – Feb 11 – Momo stock lost ~46% of its value from October through December, and the stock posted big gains in January (up 28%) as the market regained some ground. There doesn't appear to have been any company-specific news behind the company's stock gains last month, but Momo trades at low multiples compared to its earnings trajectory, and investors piled back into the stock as skittishness in the broader market abated. Momo is a stock that could see more big gains if the country's tech sector continues to recover. The company's monthly active user base continues to climb (up 17% YOY last quarter).
See full article at Fox Business
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TIMES OF INDIA – TrulyMadly is one of the bigger and older local ventures in India. Co-founder & COO Snehil Khanor says the company caters to both casual and serious users, "but there's definitely more money in older cohorts." He says 80% of its paying users mention on their profile that they are looking for something serious. 50% of TrulyMadly users are 28+ years old, and 70% 26+. Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of matchmaking app Woo, also says money flows in only from older users, who are both socially and financially dependent. BetterHalf.AI too pitches itself as a "serious matchmaking product for working professionals looking to get married in the next 1-2 years." Co-founder and CEO Pawan Gupta says matrimony sites are too overwhelming for today's generation. Matrimony, Shaadi and others that traditionally relied on revenue from parents, are transforming to attract singles while keeping parents still involved in the process. Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Matrimony.com, says till the mid-2000s, parents registered on behalf of their daughters and sons. Not any more. "Today, ~60% of our 3.7M active members are individuals who register on their own." Investments in the segment have been small, and was at its peak in 2015 at $6.3M. That was the year when TrulyMadly raised $5.3M and iCrushiFlush raised $0.5M. Last year there was just one funding deal. According to comScore data, the number of unique visitors to Tinder in India had risen to as high as that of Shaadi in late 2017, and had continued to challenge the local players.
by Sindhu Hariharan
See full article at Times of India
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