Category: Shaadi

Shaadi.com: A Match Made In Cyberspace

Posted on June 9, 2008

Shaadi_logo
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK — June 7 — Boasting
10m members and a million marriages in 11 years, Shaadi (400 employees)
has
been a runaway success. Shaadi.com was launched in 1997 by Anupam
Mittal, a business graduate of Boston College in the US. Now Shaadi is
one of India’s five most popular
sites. It boasts 300m page views
each month and 6,000 new profiles are added every day (60% of
which are male). Despite having the second fastest-growing economy in
the world,
India remains a deeply conservative society, especially where marriage
and relationships are concerned. A recent magazine survey revealed that
more than 60% of young unmarried Indians disapproved of the
idea of sex before marriage; 40% said they wanted to marry
within their own caste. An estimated 95% of all marriages in
India are arranged, usually after lengthy negotiations between two
families. Shaadi.com also provides additional services: a
directory listing of wedding-related services; a lifestyle website, shaaditimes.com, with features on travel, fashion and health; and a sister site, secondshaadi.com,
for divorcees and widows. There are also more than 150 Shaadi.com
Centres in 87 Indian cities, where parents and children can sit down
with a relationship adviser and trawl the company’s database. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Mark Brooks: Bharat Matrimony is Shaadi’s main competitor in India. I interviewed Bharat Matrimony’s CEO/Founder here (Dec’ 2006). Both companies use a network of agents to service those without computers and the internet across India.

Let’s Say You Want To Date A Hog Farmer

Posted on April 28, 2008

Farmers_only_upoutavka NY TIMES — Apr 27 — A growing number of people have found love on dating sites that pair members based on a specific shared interest or background, like Nerdsatheart.com, DateMyPet.com, STDmatch.net and Veggielove.com. "Singles are increasingly eager to narrow the audience and really target their needs," said Mark Brooks, a consultant who keeps his own blog, OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "It's the same reason why Procter&Gamble makes so many detergents. We are all drawn to things that cater to our very specific desires." According to Hitwise there are now 1,378 U.S. dating sites, up from 876 three years ago. Mr. Brooks estimates that 44% of those sites in the U.S. are niche sites, up from 35% in 2006. Large companies like Match.com, eHarmony, Yahoo Personals and SinglesNet.com have the general market cornered, Mr. Brooks said, "the only real entrepreneurial opportunities left in the online dating world lie in the niche market." FarmersOnly.com has attracted 90,000 members so far, 50,000 in the last year alone. One month's membership costs $15.95. Mr. Brooks said the most successful niche sites pair people by race, sexual orientation or religion. The 20 most popular dating sites this year as ranked by Hitwise include JDate, Christian Mingle and ChristianCafe.com, Manhunt, Love From India, Amigos, Asian People Meet, and Shaadi. "A few years ago, a company called Spark Networks was putting major funding into its general dating site, American Singles," Mr. Brooks said. "But when executives saw that the Jewish market was huge and relatively untouched, they switched gears and ratcheted up JDate." FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES. Also in THE LEDGER

154 ‘Shaadi Points’ Re-branded as ‘Shaadi.com Centres’

Posted on March 10, 2008

Shaadi_logo
MONEY CONTROL — Mar 10 — Shaadi Point, the pioneers in offline matrimony will henceforth be known as Shaadi.com Centre. Today with 154 centres in 87 cities in India, Shaadi.com Centre has established itself as a leading player in the offline match making & franchisee business. FULL ARTICLE @ MONEY CONTROL

Mark Brooks: Shaadi competes with Bharat Matrimony, which has a similar business model.

GoMilni Launches Free Matrimonial Site

Posted on September 11, 2007

Gomilni_logoPRESS RELEASE — Sep 11 — GoMilni is another dating and matrimonial site. However, unlike other "free" sites that contain hidden costs, this Vancouver-based dating service offers all features – including personal messaging, search, chat, and open forums for discussion – for free. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: Inspired by Markus at PlentyofFish, I'm sure. Markus is also based out of Vancouver also. Can a matrimonial site in Vancouver take on Shaadi and BharatMatrimony?

People Interactive Considers A 2009 Public Offer

Posted on August 27, 2007

Shaadi_logoTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL — Aug 26 — People Interactive, the consumer Internet subsidiary of Mumbai-based People Group, is considering a 2009 public listing to finance acquisitions in the online classifieds and communities spaces. People Interactive, which owns matrimonial portal Shaadi and online dating service Fropper, may list either on NASDAQ or on the domestic bourses. In preparation for the public debut, the group will begin offering online services on the mobile platform. FULL ARTICLE @ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Mark Brooks: Westbridge Capital Partners invested $8 million in Shaadi back in March – more info here. BharatMatrimony is the other leading matrimonials service in India, fyi. Murugavel Janakiraman aka Muru is the CEO/Founder.   

Muslim, Traditional, but Finding Love on the Web

Posted on May 1, 2007

SinglemuslimREUTERS — May 1 — Over the past two years there has been a boom in the use of Web sites that introduce Muslim men and women for marriage. Singlemuslim.com , which calls itself Britain's largest Muslim introductions agency, has seen registered users double over the past year to 100,000 and is opening sites in the U.S., Canada and Australia. On some sites, more than half the registered users are professional women with above-average incomes who use the service to save time and broaden the scope of their search. They are direct and demanding about what they are looking for. Shaadi.com, 'the world's largest matrimonial service,' has 10 million users, most in South Asia — in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In Britain, 700,000 are registered, 40% average annual income of 40,000 pounds.

The full article was originally published at NY Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony.com is Shaadi's leading competitor, and WorldSingles.com runs a number of niche dating sites focused on Muslims.

Muslim, Traditional, but Finding Love on the Web

Posted on May 1, 2007

SinglemuslimREUTERS — May 1 — Over the past two years there has been a boom in the use of Web sites that introduce Muslim men and women for marriage. Singlemuslim.com , which calls itself Britain's largest Muslim introductions agency, has seen registered users double over the past year to 100,000 and is opening sites in the U.S., Canada and Australia. On some sites, more than half the registered users are professional women with above-average incomes who use the service to save time and broaden the scope of their search. They are direct and demanding about what they are looking for. Shaadi.com, 'the world's largest matrimonial service,' has 10 million users, most in South Asia — in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In Britain, 700,000 are registered, 40% average annual income of 40,000 pounds.

The full article was originally published at NY Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony.com is Shaadi's leading competitor, and WorldSingles.com runs a number of niche dating sites focused on Muslims.

Yahoo Hitches Indian Wedding

Posted on August 2, 2006

BharatlogoRED HERRING — Aug 2 — Yahoo and Canaan Partners have invested $8.6 million in Bharat Matrimony, a leading Indian personals site. Canaan led the round, which was the first outside funding for Bharat Matrimony, a nine-year-old company whose matrimonial service focuses on serious relationships rather than dating. This is Yahoo's first investment in India other than in its own development center in Bangalore. Bharat Matrimony claims to have facilitated more than 500,000 marriages, including that of CEO Murugavel Janakiraman. "We will use the funds for expansion as we target the Indian diaspora in the U.K. and Southeast Asian countries," said Mr. Janakiraman. It charges $10 to $15 per month for its services and provides 40 physical stores for customers without Internet access. It also runs jobs, real estate, autos, and general classifieds sites, and will put the new funding toward developing these verticals as well as opening hundreds of stores. In March, Sequoia Capital India, then called WestBridge Capital, invested $8 million in People Interactive, which runs a matrimony portal, Shaadi.com. As of Tuesday night, Yahoo India Matrimony was still syndicating personals from Shaadi.com, even though it's a close competitor of Bharat Matrimony.

Mark Brooks: I'm most interested to see how Bharat's roll out of more physical locations in India goes. Singles will pay more to get more services. Great Expectations, The Right One/Together Dating, Table for Six and It's Just Lunch lead the way in high end service oriented matchmaking/dating services for the masses. However, they still only reach a small portion of the potential market that online dating sites are captivating. Online services fall short for service. Singles don't want online dating. They just want to date suitable, potential suitors. A sizable portion of the online dating market want a little more handholding, more service, and will pay for it if it leads to more (good) dates. I don't think they will pay $3000+ a year, en masse. I do think they will pay $500-$1000 a year. That price base would support some phone based assistance and matchmaking. Let's see what happens this year, with Yahoo learning from Bharat.

Dating Game Pakistani Style: Spouses, Not Dates

Posted on June 8, 2006

SahdiparYAHOO NEWS – June 7 — Shaadi uses a combination of prime-time TV and the Internet to shake up a conservative Muslim culture in which family networks usually decide who weds whom. Regular dating is rare in Pakistan. A prospective bride often endures scrutiny by many suitors before finding a husband.  Each weekly program showcases two men and one woman, introduced in a prerecorded video presentation showing their family, friends and work life. Once on the set, they are gently questioned by the hosts on their preferences for a mate. That information is fed into a computer database of 100,000 singles. They are presented with a list of possible matches to choose from, and, on the show, they phone the ones that most catch their eye, while viewers listen in.

Mark Brooks: A network of sites is offered in 15 Indian languages by Bharat Matrimony, the leader in Southern India.

WestBridge Capital Partners Announces $8 Million Investment in Shaadi.com

Posted on March 13, 2006

Shaadi_2WESTBRIDGE CAPTIAL PARTNERS PRESS RELEASE — Mar 9 — Shaadi.com, the flagship brand of People Interactive Pvt. Ltd, which owns other businesses such as Fropper.com, AstroLife.com, and ShaadiPoint has secured an investment of US $8 million from India's WestBridge Captital Partners. Just last week People Group had announced a $10 million investment deal in it's group company, People Infocom (MAUJ Telecom) with a consortium of investors – WestBridge Capital Partners, Intel Capital, and Sequoia Capital. This is People Group's second venture capital deal in two weeks and brings the total amount raised to $18 million. 

Mark Brooks: Shaadi is a power house in matrimonials and is doing some very innovative work meshing online services with 'real world' bricks and mortar services which will eventually make waves in the US market 😉