TECH CIRCLE – Sep 2 – Indian dating service Truly Madly has stopped registrations and dating activities on its website. 98% of its members were using the site on their mobiles. Truly Madly was started in February 2014 by Dhingra, Sachin Bhatia and Rahul Kumar. The startup raised ~$5.6M in Series A funding from early stage investors Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital in March this year.
by Varun Arora
See full article at Tech Circle
ASSOCIATED PRESS – July 7 – Indian dating app market has exploded in recent years, with more than a dozen companies operating in India such as Woo, Thrill, TrulyMadly, HitchUp and DesiCrush. In India, half of the 1.2B population is younger than 25 and smartphone sales are projected to surge 67% this year alone. Dating is still widely seen as a social taboo in India, "it is very difficult to get girls in India to start using a dating app," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of India's TrulyMadly. "We realized verification, security and privacy are very important" to women, Bhatia said. TrulyMadly encourages men to upload copies of their IDs, or to verify their phone numbers. The app Thrill sidelines up to 35% of male users, without telling them, to a so-called "phantom zone" where they can still log on and view others' profiles, but can't make contact and are invisible to other users.
by Rishab R. Jain
The full article was originally published at Denver Post, but is no longer available.
FIRST POST – Mar 2 – TrulyMadly, an Indian-origin online dating and matchmaking app with ~200K installs, has raised Rs. 35 crore ($5.6M) in their first round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital. Co-founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra and Rahul Kumar, TrulyMadly launched its app in August 2014. TrulyMadly mobile app lets singles discover each other through shared interests and personality profiles. TrulyMadly 's app allocates a ‘Trust Score’ to each new user; a higher Trust Score increases the number of potential matches for a user. Users can boost their Trust Score by getting their phone number and photo ID verified. All users need ~30% Trust Score to use the app.
by Sulekha Nair
See full article at First Post
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
NEXT BIG WHAT – Aug 11 - TrulyMadly has launched a new android app with a hot-or-not style of functionality. The company boasts a profile verification system, that assigns a Trust Score to encourage users to further authenticate profiles, and a Values and Adaptability Test, that depict users views on lifestyle preferences and potential partners. An iOS version of the app is set to launch in October.
The full article was originally published at The Next Big What, but is no longer available.
NDTV – June 19 – Varsha Agnihotri started "Footloose No More" four years ago. The site screens all applications, and then hosts a curated meet-up for new members. Users can't use the site just to meet people online – if they miss three Footloose events in a row, then their membership is revoked. Another Indian dating site is Truly Madly which is like eHarmony. Most dating sites has to be tailored to meet the needs of the Indian market. Simply bringing international ideas to India has not been very successful. These sites brand themselves as working on a "relationship management model" which is about getting to know a client on a personal level.
by Rohan Swamy
See full article at NDTV
THE HINDU – May 29 – TrulyMadly.com has launched as an alternative to traditional matrimonial sites. Young people in India are deciding who they want to marry, with parents coming in later for approval. Urban Tryst is a newly launched matchmaking site that sets up users on dates and throws in surprise ice-breakers. iBluebottle caters to young professionals and has a very stringent verification process. MatchMeCupid focuses less on horoscopes matching and more needs and values.
by Raveena Joseph
See full article at The Hindu