INC42 – India's online dating scene, featuring apps like Tinder, Bumble, and local platforms like Woo and Quack Quack, is booming but faces serious safety concerns. A Norton report revealed that 66% of Indian dating app users have encountered financial fraud. Incidents of honey trapping and extortion are on the rise, with victims being blackmailed for large sums. The gender imbalance on these apps exacerbates the issue, with a male-to-female ratio on Tinder India reported to be 93:1. Despite the growth, with user numbers surging by 293% in the last five years, safety measures lag behind, leaving users vulnerable to crimes ranging from data leaks to physical harm.
Category: Woo
Indian Dating App “Woo” Launches Vaccination Badge
Dating Apps Revolutionize Romance in India
by Neeta Lal
See full article at Nikkei Asia
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IDEA WOW + IDEA SUMMIT, in Chennai, India
OPW – Apr 9 – The Internet Dating Excellence Association World Officers Weekend happened over the weekend, and the IDEA SUMMIT happened Monday. Here’s video summaries of our adventures in Chennai.
Day 1
Day 2
IDEA SUMMIT was a closed door event. It was a very full day of learning and sharing. 14 presentations were made by the CEO/Founder of Matrimony, CEO of Mamba, Chief Mobile Officer of Matrimony, CEO/Founder of Lunch Actually, CMO of Woo, CEO/Founder of Agape Match, CEO of LoveMe, MD of Insparx, Owner of SuccessfulMatch, Owner of Hubpeople, Co-founder of LoveMe, MD of Mamba, and CEO of BetterHalf.ai.
You can see the full information and line up here. Now we’re working on the next event.
Indian Dating App Woo Launches Woo Phone Feature to Empower Women
OPW – Mar 11 – Woo Phone allows women to call their matched profiles from within the dating app without revealing their phone numbers. This feature is exclusively available to women.
Local Indian Dating Sites Focus on Serious Relationships to Take on Tinder
TIMES OF INDIA – TrulyMadly is one of the bigger and older local ventures in India. Co-founder & COO Snehil Khanor says the company caters to both casual and serious users, "but there's definitely more money in older cohorts." He says 80% of its paying users mention on their profile that they are looking for something serious. 50% of TrulyMadly users are 28+ years old, and 70% 26+. Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of matchmaking app Woo, also says money flows in only from older users, who are both socially and financially dependent. BetterHalf.AI too pitches itself as a "serious matchmaking product for working professionals looking to get married in the next 1-2 years." Co-founder and CEO Pawan Gupta says matrimony sites are too overwhelming for today's generation. Matrimony, Shaadi and others that traditionally relied on revenue from parents, are transforming to attract singles while keeping parents still involved in the process. Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Matrimony.com, says till the mid-2000s, parents registered on behalf of their daughters and sons. Not any more. "Today, ~60% of our 3.7M active members are individuals who register on their own." Investments in the segment have been small, and was at its peak in 2015 at $6.3M. That was the year when TrulyMadly raised $5.3M and iCrushiFlush raised $0.5M. Last year there was just one funding deal. According to comScore data, the number of unique visitors to Tinder in India had risen to as high as that of Shaadi in late 2017, and had continued to challenge the local players.
by Sindhu Hariharan
See full article at Times of India
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The Biggest Pitfalls of Online Dating in India
See full article at Times of India
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Young Indians Are Using Dating Apps For Much More Than Just Dating
by Kuwar Singh
See full article at Quartz India
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India Has Lots Of Single Women, But Not On Tinder
WALL STREET JOURNAL – June 25 – Tinder's biggest challenge in India appears to be getting enough women to sign on. In many parts of India, arranged marriages remain the norm, and dating in any form still carries a stigma, particularly for women. Indian women who have dabbled with dating apps complain they get overwhelmed by all the attention that comes with the surplus of men. Tinder doesn't disclose a gender breakdown, but among the app's members in India, men far outnumber women. The dating app TrulyMadly, which says women make up ~20% of its users, is trying to introduce women to the concept of "boy browsing" through a YouTube video. Another competitor, Woo, allows women on its app free but charges men, and lets women use initials rather than full names.
by Georgia Wells & Eric Bellman
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Woo – Women-friendly Dating App
YOURSTORY – May 18 – Woo aims to match like-minded people, and also claims to be a platform that puts women first. Released in July 2014, the platform is founded by Sumesh Menon (CEO and Co-founder) and Ankit Nautiyal (CTO and Co-founder). It received its undisclosed Series A funding from Matrix Partners, Omidyar Network and U2opia Mobile. Woo has a user base of ~4.5M users. Woo is similar to Tinder, in the sense that users can only chat with someone if the two have mutually liked each other by swiping right. Users can also send out a 'crush' to a profile without swiping right to let him or her know of their interest. With the feature 'Woo Phone', women can place an Internet call directly from the app while their number remains hidden and private. This specially created feature is available only to women. Woo Plus unlocks a few extra features.
by Sampath Putrevu
See full article at YourStory
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.