BUSINESS INSIDER – May 14 – Emma Tessler and Lauren Kay pitched their startup, The Dating Ring, to a crowded room full of venture capitalists at Y Combinator's Demo Day in 2014. Tessler, the company's co-founder and COO, approached an investor who put his arm around her. His one-handed hug had landed his hand on the side of her breast – right as he offered $50K to invest in Dating Ring. She turned down the money. After Demo Day, Kay took on the majority of fundraising work as CEO and started lining up calls with investors. The company raised $455K in March and May 2014, and haven't raised any money since. "I had 40 fundraising meetings, I sent ~300 emails requesting meetings, and tried to get in touch with another 500 investors," Kay wrote in her blog post called "Fundraising While Female". While she didn't want to blame any of it on her gender but she knew it had played a role.
Category: Dating Ring
Dating Ring Blends Old-Fashioned Matchmaking And Algorithms
NY TIMES – Apr 22 – In 2013, Lauren Kay and Emma Tessler started Dating Ring, a group dating service. They were charging $20 per person per date. But soon, sales had started to flatten, and scheduling dates was a nightmare. They decided to switch to a one-on-one dating model. "We had $7K in sales within 24 hours," Ms. Kay said. Dating Ring uses an algorithm to generate matches and then a matchmaker combs through those to hand-select dates. Mark Brooks, an Internet dating analyst and consultant, said although there is still plenty of interest in online dating, people also want relationships that begin based on more than your gut reaction to a photo. "This model of merging of Internet and matchmakers is very new," he said. Life Change Holdings manages local matchmaking businesses that use a website, like OhioSingles.com or CharlotteMatchmakers.com, for leads. The services cost $3,5 – $10K and Life Change Holdings revenue has grown from $2.5M in 2012 to $14.5M in 2014, said Bill Broadbent, the company’s founder and CEO. He projects ~$20M in 2015. Dating Ring now charges $240/3 month that brings in revenue of $35K/month.
“The Dating Ring” Brings A Plane Full Of NYC Brides To SF
BUSINESSWEEK – Mar 7 – On Memorial Day weekend, a plane will land in SF filled with single New York City women who are looking to find love. A startup called The Dating Ring is aiming to raise $50K to solve what it sees as a demographic dilemma: “There are tons more single women in NYC, and tons more single men in SF,” reads the company’s campaign on crowdfunding site, Crowdtilt. For $20, NYC women could win a free flight to SF. Donations of $1,250 guarantee the full package: a flight to SF, housing for four nights, three dates, two parties, and three private 30-minute matchmaking and date-coaching sessions via Skype. Bay Area bachelors can pay $20 to attend the party, or $100 for a ticket to the more refined cocktail party.
by Caroline Winter
The full article was originally published at BusinessWeek, but is no longer available.
Group Dating Is On The Rise
NY TIMES – Nov 10 – “Traditional online dating takes too much time,” said Lauren Kay, 24, a founder of the Dating Ring, a group dating company that started last spring. She requires singles to meet with an in-house matchmaker, before being set up in groups of three single men and women ($20 a date). "Group dating is simply a version of general night life, said Abel Acuña, a founder of Martini, a group-dating service in New York, Paris, London and Seoul, South Korea. These services make fewer claims about arranging romance, promising only the low-stress opportunity of hanging out. Grouper bills itself as a social club. “We are more excited about groups that are 12 and higher,” said Sam Yagan, founder of OKCupid.com and CEO of Match.com.
by Marisa Meltzer
See full article at NY Times