by Sanchita Dash
See full article at Business Insider
See the top news on Shaadi
See the top news on Jeevansathi
See the top news on BharatMatrimony
Category: Shaadi
Shaadi Removes Skin Colour Filter
INDIA TV NEWS – June 26 – Previously, the matrimonial website asked users to search for their partners on the basis of skin descriptions like 'fair,' 'wheatish,' and 'dark.' Shaadi.com has removed the skin colour search filter after thousands of people signed an online petition. ~1,500 signatures were made within 14 hours.
The Top Dating Industry News, Podcast
OPW – Apr 21 – Bumble's New Features, Match.com's Vibe Check, eHarmony's Video Feature, Tagged's 1:1 Video Chat & Blind Date, Shaadi to Conduct Weddings Through Video Conferencing.
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Matrimonial Site Shaadi.com Organises #WeddingsFromHome
FINANCIAL EXPRESS – Apr 16 – As weddings continue to get postponed owing to the outbreak of coronavirus and the need to maintain social distancing, Indian matrimonial platform Shaadi.com has launched a new initiative of conducting weddings from home through video conferencing. So far, Shaadi has already conducted one virtual wedding and is expected to conduct another one in the week ahead.
Shaadi.com Launches PetShaadi.com
Shaadi.com Accused of Using Algorithm That Discriminates by Caste
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – Feb 3 – Indian dating site Shaadi has caused controversy by insisting that users state their caste or 'sub-community' on their profile. Users who are elite in the caste system would not be offered potential matches from the lowest of the social divisions. Caste discrimination is outlawed in India but it is not yet illegal in the UK. The Equality Act 2010 does, however, prevent discrimination on the grounds of race as well as other 'protected characteristics'.
The Rise of Bharat Matrimony
THE NEWS MINUTE – Sep 23 – BharatMatrimony's origin began in the US in 1997 when Murugavel Janakiraman started a website for the Tamil community, called sysindia.com. The site included features like the Tamil daily calendar, festival reminders, tips and matrimonial service which later became BharatMatrimony. In 2000, he returned to India to start his own office in Chennai. Muruga was inspired by IAC and began to create his network of websites. Clickjobs.com and Indiaproperty.com were launched in 2005. Indialist.com (local classifieds modelled on Craigslist), Loanwala.com and Indiaautomobile.com were next in line. In 2005, things started changing. Companies that had been around for a while and had survived the dot-com crash were seeing a lot of interest from investors. The biggest competitor Shaadi.com raised $8M. Muruga met more than ten investors around that time but couldn't raise money from any of them. "We were generating $4M in revenue and some of the investors made lowball offers of $10M valuations," he said. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the investment bankers organised a meeting with Yahoo! Cannan Partners got the wind that Yahoo! was considering an investment in BharatMatrimony and jumped in to participate in the round. In August 2006, BharatMatrimony announced an $8.65M financing from Yahoo! and Cannan Partners. Yahoo! dumped Shaadi.com as their exclusive partner and replaced them with BharatMatrimony. "We kind of spent most of the money on marketing. We had a play in all these classifieds like jobs, matrimonial, real estate, and vehicles with competitors in each. It turned out that $8M was too little for the entire portfolio to grow and succeed." Thankfully, for Muruga, right before they ran out of cash in early 2008, they managed to raise ~$11.75M. This time, Mayfield Fund led the round and there was participation from existing investors, Yahoo! and Canaan Partners. "We plan to leverage this fund to expand our matrimony business in the international markets and to strengthen our classifieds offerings."
by Sidharth Rao
See full article at The News Minute
Shaadi.com Celebrates 6M Success Stories
EVERYTHING EXPERIENTIAL – July 23 – Shaadi.com is launching a brand new TV campaign that celebrates '60 lakh Success Stories'. With this campaign Shaadi.com aims to further cement its position as a market leader in the online matchmaking space.
Why Self-employed People Get More Response on Matrimonial Sites
INDIA TIMES – Mar 9 – In India, matrimonial profiles of self-employed people have traditionally been preferred by the business community. Rajasekar KS, general manager at Matrimony.com, which runs matchmaking website Bharat Matrimony, said there's been a marked increase in the preference for entrepreneurs over the last few years. "It is largely driven by the increasing success stories of entrepreneurs," he said. Gourav Rakshit, CEO of Shaadi.com, said: "Over 20% women have shown interest in entrepreneurs." Another change is that more women are now in control of their profiles, as opposed to their parents doing the monitoring.
by Anjali Venugopalan
See full article at India Times
Shaadi: Women Take Charge to Find Life Partners in India
by Sindhu Hariharan
See full article at Times of India
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