LINKEDIN – dua.com launched five years ago, built in 100 days during COVID by a newly formed team. It now has ~1.1M Albanian users and is the leading Albanian dating app globally. The app has seen ~5M active conversations in the past two years, with an average of 58 people per day deleting the app after finding a partner. In 2024, it received 18K ratings with a 4.3 average and passed 1B views on social media. Revenue grew from zero in 2020 to $2.37M in 2023 and $3.16M in 2024. Despite major challenges, such as cash shortages, co-founder exits, technical and cultural hurdles, the company remains active and also acquired Spotted, a dating app for missed connections with ~5M registered users.
Category: Spotted
Dua.com Buys Spotted.de and Closes $4M Series A Round
DUA.COM – Headquartered in Zurich, dua.com initiated its operations in late 2019. It started by reconnecting Albanians, its first globally fragmented community with a large diaspora. With an initially small team, dua.com joined numerous incubators in Europe and the U.S., namely the Harvard Innovation Labs, Uplift Europe, and Innovation Centre Kosovo. dua.com connects international migrants, expats, and diaspora communities. It has acquired the German dating app 'Spotted.de', and combined the platforms – dua.com and Spotted.de – have 5M registered users. The company completed Seed and Series A rounds, raising a total of $4.9M.
by Argjenda Selmani
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Why Are Investors So Afraid Of Dating Apps?
GRUENDERSZENE – Mar 20 – Mayze, a new Munich-based dating app, has been launched recently. Marianne Kraai, the app's founder, calls her app "Parship for the young generation". While the Tinder aims at young mobile users, who are mainly looking for casual relationships, Parship attracts older users who are looking for serious relationships. Mayze wants to position itself in the middle. The market is crowded. There is Tinder, Lovoo and Spotted but the apps don't attract any investors. Lovoo, for example, did not receive any external money. According to TechCrunch, there were only $47M for dating startups in 2016 – $32M went to a Chinese player. "Investors are often afraid of dating apps," says Romain Lavault, partner of the French VC Partech Ventures who led the investment in Once. "The apps do not hold their users, and it is very difficult to get users to pay," says Lavault. In addition, the exit market for dating startups is quite limited. Anke Hecht from VC Target Global sees a lack of innovation. "The dating market has not changed for years", she says.
German Social Discovery App Raised $14.5 Million
PRNEWSWIRE – Aug 11 – Spotted is a social discovery app that connects people who cross paths every day. It turns missed opportunities into second chances. The startup raised $14.5M from Media Ventures GmbH from Cologne, and Prof. Wolf M. Nietzer's Wolfman Holdings GmbH, the Deutsche Balaton AG affiliate in Heidelberg, Germany.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
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