LINKEDIN - This is the second round of funding. The company had previously raised $200K in its first seed round from angel investors last year after its July launch. The startup claims ~50K downloads after launching in India. SwoonMe is a voice-first dating app.
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ECONOMIC TIMES - IT company Info Edge, which owns platforms such as Naukri.com and Jeevansathi, has acquired a 76% stake in online dating company Aisle Network for Rs 91 crore ($12M). Aisle runs multiple dating platforms - Aisle, Anbe, Arike and HeyDil. Aisle had a turnover of Rs 7.56 crore ($980K) in 2020-21, the filing said.
See full article at Economic Times
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BUSINESS INSIDER - Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel is reportedly pouring $1.5M into "The Right Stuff", a dating app for conservatives. John McEntee, Trump's former political aide, is behind the project. It will launch first in Washington DC this summer and will initially be invite-only.
by Katie Canales
See full article at Business Insider
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LINKEDIN - Grazer, a dating and friend-finding app for vegans and vegetarians, raised ~£400K within 24 hours of launching its crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.com.
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TECH CRUNCH - Bumble is adding the fast-growing French dating app Fruitz to its family of apps. Deal terms were not being disclosed. The quirky app Fruitz assigns a fruit to each particular kind of relationship type, ranging from those who want long-term commitments to those in search of one-night action. This allows users to filter out those who aren't on the same page as them. It also prompts users to answer questions that serve ice breakers before messaging their match. Fruitz was co-founded by Julian Kabab (CEO), Fabrice Bascoulergue (CTO), and Arnaud Ruols (CFO) and initially launched in France in Feb, 2017. To date, Fruitz has been downloaded 5.6M times globally across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. As of Feb. 3, 2022, the app was ranked No. 4 on the iPhone's top free charts in the "Lifestyle" category in its home market of France.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
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MONEY CONTROL - 'As You Are', an Indian social networking and matchmaking app, has raised $250K in Compulsorily Convertible Debentures (CCDs), from queer couples who are angel investors and also Indian-origin entrepreneurs from the marketing space. AYA launched in June 2020 and has ~25K downloads.
by Mansi Verma
See full article at Money Control
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INC42 - Info Edge will be acquiring Aisle in two tranches with capital infusion of INR 75 Cr each ($10M). This will be Info Edge's first acquisition in 2022 after acquiring two HR tech startups DoSelect and Zwayam Digital in 2021. With Aisle's acquisition and already profitable Jeevansathi, Info Edge wants to double down on its matchmaking business. Founded in 2014 by Able Joseph, Aisle is an Indian dating app for people looking for a serious relationship. Aisle has acquired ~6.5M users. Aisle's total earning in FY19 was $466K, up 161% from FY18. Founded by Sanjeev Bikhchandani in 1995, Info Edge is the parent company of popular job classifieds platform - Naukri.com. The internet company also owns a matrimonial service - Jeevansathi, which was the only profitable business of Info Edge in the pandemic devastated Q1 of FY21 (April - June of 2020).
by Debarghya Sil
See full article at Inc42
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TECH.EU - London-founded video dating app The Sauce has raised £1.25M in a seed funding round. The funding will be used to continue further development of the app. Founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneurs Emma Clark and Sachin Karia, The Sauce officially launched in May 2021.
by Dan Taylor
See full article at Tech.eu
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GLOBE NEWSWIRE - VIPC's Virginia Venture Partners invests in CarpeDM, a membership only dating platform and matchmaking service dedicated to connecting professional Black women with other singles seeking meaningful relationships. This funding, through the Virginia Founders fund, will be used to fuel the company's customer acquisition strategy. CarpeDM is one of the only dating apps on the market that conducts 100% background checks for all of its members in partnership with KarmaCheck. Virginia Venture Partners, formerly CIT GAP Funds, is the equity investment program of VIPC that makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean energy, and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating a significant economic return.
See full article at Globe Newswire
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INC42 - Bengaluru-based gamified audio-based romance and friend discovery startup FRND has raised $6.5M in a Series A round led by South Korean gaming giant and PUBG maker KRAFTON. Existing investors India Quotient and Elevation Capital also participated in the round. The funds will help FRND to expand its vernacular availability, strengthen the technology ecosystem and grow its global footprint.
by Laxitha Mundhra
See full article at INC42
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