Category: TrulyMadly

India’s Millennials Are Turning To Home-grown Dating Apps

Posted on October 30, 2016

Indian dating appsTHE NATIONAL – Oct 29 – In India arranged marriages continue to be the norm. A 2013 survey revealed that 75% of young Indians prefer arranged marriages. ~22M Indians use matrimonial sites such as BharatMatrimony, Shaadi.com and Jeevansathi. "India has 100M people over the age of 21 who are looking for partners. For them, matrimonial sites, with parents interfering, are not cool," says Hitesh Dhingra, co-founder of dating app TrulyMadly. TrulyMadly launched in India in 2014. It verifies personal details of its users because fake profiles are a big problem in India. ~3M Indians have downloaded dating app Woo. Woo demonstrates the rise of home-grown dating apps in India. While Tinder is well known, the indigenous online offerings are tailored to Indian cultural needs. Other apps include Aisle, which describes itself as a cross between a dating and a matrimonial app. Another offering is Floh (Find Life Over Here), which operates in 15 cities and five countries.

by Amrit Dhillon
See full article at The National

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Most Indian Dating Apps Cater To People Who Are Serious

Posted on October 26, 2016

Woo logoBUSINESS INSIDER – Oct 26 – Today, online dating is all about swiping left or right on smartphones. Unlike the West, where one night stands is not seen as a social taboo, in India, people browsing dating apps, often look for a long time commitment. "We aren't like Western dating apps, which are primarily for 'hook-ups'. Nor are we traditional desi matrimonial sites. We've tried to remove the taboo from the term 'dating' in the Indian world by associating it with safety and compatibility", said Sachin Bhatia, CEO and Co-Founder of TrulyMadly, a dating app. Another dating app, Woo, has started for people looking for a relationship. Woo has a Trust Score for every user, based on the amount of information a user volunteers to share with the app. This impacts the matches she/he receives. There is also a manual verification system in place to double check profiles.

by Suchayan Mandal
See full article at Business Insider

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In India, Dating Apps Are Helping The LGBTQ Community Find Love

Posted on September 12, 2016

Gay dating appHINDUSTAN TIMES – Sep 8 – Online matchmaking in India has come a long way since shaadi.com launched in 1996. Tinder, launched in India in 2014, followed by Indian dating apps TrulyMadly (2015) and ekCoffee (2016). The earliest queer dating platform, PlanetRomeo, launched worldwide in 2002. It claims 3M users globally and India comprises 7% of that. Grindr, with 10M users worldwide, recorded a gradual increase from 11k to 69k monthly users between 2011 and 2015 from India. The figures convinced Scruff, an American dating app for men, to enter India in July this year.

by Poorva Joshi
See full article at Hindustan Times

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Modern-Day Dating Apps In India

Posted on August 28, 2016

Dating stats indiaTHE WEEK – Aug 28 – Online platforms are changing the way Indians are finding love today. In the past marriages were arranged mostly through close friends and family members. There was no concept of dating. But today, with the all the dating apps, finding the right life partner often means a heavy investment of time and effort. But on the other side, there are those like web developer Rohan Mehta, 23, "an introverted tech geek" who found that Tinder helped him come out of his shell. "I joined Tinder to become more social and ended up making a few good friends. I even met a girl and we dated for a while." Tinder became available in India in 2013 and launched its operations here this year. Taru Kapoor, the app's India head, says the country is Tinder's fastest-growing market and has an energetic and diverse user base. There are also some home-grown apps like TrulyMadly, Woo and Aisle. All three came into existence with the founding members looking for a solution to their own dating woes. Launched in India in 2014, Woo has got ~3M downloads and is expanding to countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Unlike Tinder, Woo is designed to disallow married people from signing up. The founders estimate that the market of singles aged 24 and above is ~20M currently and will grow to 50M in the next three years. Aisle, the 2 years old app calls itself the 'middle path between traditional matrimony sites and casual dating apps'.

by Shalini Singh
See full article at The Week

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Can Dating Apps Co-exists With Matrimonial Sites?

Posted on May 23, 2016

Dating-matrimonialBESTMEDIA INFO – May 19 – After TrulyMadly and Woo launching in 2014, Tinder came up with a storm in January 2016 and destabilised the market to some extent. Tinder saw 97% growth in active user base in the last few months and 400% increase in app downloads since its launch in India. TrulyMadly gets new users every day and they spend ~45 minutes daily on the app. Woo too has ~2.5 M users. Sachin Bhatia, CEO of TrulyMadly, said, "We are looking at a major disruption in matrimonial websites." Co-founder and CEO, Woo, believes in co-existence. "Dating apps are going to co-exist for the next 15-20 years. Eventually, the younger audience will stop using these websites. I don't think the country is in a situation that anything is going to get replaced soon." But Aditya Save, CMO of Shaadi.com, said, "I don't see dating apps as a competition."

by Akansha Mihir Mota
See full article at BestMedia Info

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Tinder’s Competition In India

Posted on April 28, 2016

India dating appsEXCHANGE FOR MEDIA – Apr 26 – Taru Kapoor is focusing on establishing Tinder in India. The 97% growth of its active user base in India over three months and 400% increase of app downloads over the last year explains Tinder's strategy to open its first international office in Delhi. Close behind is TrulyMadly; launched in 2014 whose market share is 2.5%. Another homegrown app built in 2014, Woo has 2.5M users. QuackQuack has 1.3M users. Ravi Mittal, founder, QuackQuack says, "Our focus has been more on the casual side of dating." TrulyMadly only considers Tinder as its main competition. Woo's marketing strategy focuses on social media. For QuackQuack, simple banner ads have been effective for driving good ROI till date. TrulyMadly, Woo and Tinder have also invested in events.

by Madhuwanti Saha
See full article at Exchange For Media

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Indians Embrace Dating Apps

Posted on February 28, 2016

TrulymadlySTRAITSTIMES – Feb 28 – Tinder started gaining traction in 2013, opening an office in India last month, while Indian dating apps like TrulyMadly, Woo, and Floh.in – which all promise a more lasting relationship – have since gained attention in a country where over half of the 1.25B population is under 35. The apps are popular with those between the ages of 18 and 34. TrulyMadly has 500k active users. Tinder has seen more than a 400% increase in downloads over the last year. Over the last six months alone, it has gone from 7.5M to 14M swipes every day. Another app, Woo, grew from 10k users in its first month in the southern city of Bangalore to 2M subscribers across the cities when it launched in 2014. It promises "connections not swipes", targeting those aged 25 and above.

by Nirmala Ganapathy
See full article at StraitsTimes

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Is Tinder Copying TrulyMadly’s Marketing Strategies?

Posted on February 18, 2016

Datelicious vs tinderliciousBRAND EQUITY – Feb 17 – Nine out of ten brands copy the one successful player's strategy. You ought to copy smart not to get sued. Indian dating app TrulyMadly feels that Tinder has been copying its initiatives ever since the dating app started in India.

Allegation #1
In Nov '15, TrulyMadly teamed up with restaurants to provide offers to its users to encourage them to go on a date, called Datelicious. In Jan '16 Tinder India announced a similar offer with Zomato, called 'Tinderlicious'.

Allegation #2
In Aug '15, TrulyMadly started speed dating. In Jan '16, Tinder tied up with Food Walk India for #DinnerWithStrangers initiative.

Allegation #3
Tinder recently did a video with content creators The Viral Fever (TVF) titled 'Eat, Pray…Swipe'. "It was the same script that TVF had pitched us first and my content team had rejected it", claims TrulyMadly. To say Tinder is copying TrulyMadly by getting TVF is stretching it a tad. Also, speed dating originated in Jerusalem in 1974. So, none can claim copyright for the idea. Sumesh Menon, co-founder & CEO of Woo (yet another match-making app) thinks Tinderlicious is just happy coincidence. "They are a big company, globally. We look up to them. But I feel Tinder is just taking shortcuts", says Sachin Bhatia, co-founder & CEO of TrulyMadly.

by Shephali Bhatt
See full article at Brand Equity

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Changing Trends In India

Posted on February 14, 2016

Dating in india picHINDUSTANTIMES – Feb 14 – 2M people are on TrulyMadly, hoping to find a partner. There are many who are on the lookout for a casual relationship, a one-night-stand, or maybe to date for a few months. Less than a decade ago, this was unheard of and people usually met in a social environment or at the workplace. Dating apps like TM, Woo and Tinder are bringing about a tech-revolution of sorts in the world of dating. "We are not promising or helping find love, we are making people meet. Close to 80% of the singles on our app is in the age group of 18-26," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder and CEO of TM. India has 250M singles according to recent census data. Since 2001, the number of unmarried women between the age of 20 and 29 years has gone up by 60%. Marriage is not the priority anymore, and the millennial generation wants to be with someone they know or are in love with and with people that share their interests, hobbies and profession. "Youngsters are not so much driven by the social fabric; they don't want to outsource their relation to parents," Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of Woo, which too boasts of 2M users. Both Woo and TM claim to be for serious relationships and for singles.

by Sunny Sen
See full article at HindustanTimes

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The Business Of Dating Apps Is Disrupting Indian Culture

Posted on October 1, 2015

Indian girls on mobileQUARTZ – Oct 1 - Tinder launched in 2013 in USA. Two years on, India is Tinder's top market in Asia. There are ~7.5M swipes in India each day, according to Tinder's spokesperson. Tinder users in India also send the most messages per match globally. The success of Tinder has encouraged several Indian entrepreneurs to launch dating app such as Woo or TrulyMadly. But the new dating apps are focusing more on women's safety and long term relationships. In March 2015, TrulyMadly raised $5.7M (Rs35 crore). This year has already seen several other dating apps raise funds. In July, iCrushiFlush had raised an undisclosed amount. In November 2014, another dating app Vee raised $1M.

by Shelly Walia & Itika Sharma Punit
The full article was originally published at SBS, but is no longer available.

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting