Internet Dating Investments

Snack, Where TikTok Meets Dating, Gets $3.5M

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 22 - Snack, founded by Kimberly Kaplan, looks to merge the popularity and format of TikTok with the dating world. Kaplan hails from Plenty of Fish, where she was one of the earliest employees. She led product, marketing and revenue and was on the executive team that eventually sold PoF to Match Group for $575M in 2015. Snack is a video-first dating app that asks users to create a video and post it to a feed. Other users can scroll through a feed rather than swipe right or left on individual profiles, and when someone likes a video, it opens up the ability to comment. Once two users have liked each others' videos, DMs are open. Kaplan said that Snack is also working on video editing features similar to that of TikTok to let people get super creative with their profiles. There are 10 people on the Snack team.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Dating App Aisle Raises Undisclosed Pre-series A Funding

THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE - Feb 16 - Bengaluru-based dating app Aisle has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Hurun India Founder and Managing Director Anas Rahman Junaid and seed funding firm Konglo Ventures' founder Vinod Jose. Aisle will use the proceeds to foray into Tier-II markets across the country and expand in other countries with non-residential Indian presence. Aisle connects people of Indian-origin from around the world, who are looking for serious relationships and competes with Tinder and Bumble among others. Aisle had raised a previous funding earlier on February 14, 2017.

See full article at The Hindu Business Line

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Jigsaw Scores $3.7M

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 15 - Jigsaw, an "anti-superficial" dating app, scored £2.7M ($3.7M) in seed funding to put toward U.S. expansion. The round is led by a lead generation company for online dating companies, called The Relationship Corp., with backing from angel investors in the U.S. and U.K. primarily in the tech sector. The app puts a digital jigsaw over the faces of users, with pieces removed gradually the more they interact - and the full face only revealed after a pre-set amount of in-app engagement. The app launched in London in 2019; and opened up to the U.S. in November last year. Jigsaw has ~150K+ registered users across those two markets at this point, with 50K in the U.S.

by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Match Group To Acquire Hyperconnect For $1.7B

PR NEWSWIRE - Feb 10 - Match Group is acquiring Hyperconnect for $1.725B in cash and stock. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2021 pending customary regulatory approvals. Hyperconnect is a leading social discovery and video technology company based in Seoul, South Korea that operates Azar and Hakuna Live. Azar is the highest grossing 1-on-1 live video and audio chat app globally, allowing users to connect with others from around the world, instantly translating voice and text. Since launch in 2014, Azar has tallied 540M downloads. Hakuna Live is an interactive, social live streaming app that enables group video and audio broadcasts with various features including virtual gifting, AR powered avatars, profile enhancements, and communities built around shared interests. Since launch in 2019, Hakuna Live has been downloaded ~23M times with strong momentum in South Korea and Japan. Hyperconnect is profitable and generated ~$200M in revenue in 2020, a 50% increase from 2019.

See full article at PR Newswire

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Albanian Dating App Dua Raised an Extended Seed Round of 150K Euro

LINKEDIN - Feb 4 - Dua is a dating and networking app for Albanians and diaspora. Dua's CEO and founder Valon Asani has announced that his startup raised an extended seed round of €150K at €10M valuation. The app has been downloaded 340K times and claims 145K users with 12% monthly growth.

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Clover Closes $12M Growth Capital Financing

PR NEWSWIRE - Feb 3 - Dating app Clover has closed a growth capital financing of $12M consisting of growth debt from Espresso Capital, and a structured equity investment from an existing investor. In fiscal 2020, Clover generated $19M in revenue from 900K paid subscriptions. Clover plans to use the new funds to accelerate its rapid growth. The app offers a wide range of settings, filters, messaging, and video options. LIVE, the new video streaming service, allows users to watch live streams, start their own stream, chat, and send and receive gifts.

See full article at PR Newswire

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Matchmaker Carly Spindel Is Seeking an Investment Of $650K For 10% of Flash Match NYC

SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE - Jan 26 - Carly Spindel, the founder of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking, recently created the first of its kind: online dating + online matchmaking + one-on-one matchmaking = Flash Match NYC. "Flash Match NYC is a do-it-yourself online matchmaking service where it's automated with suggested matches and Carly approves each match," says Janis Spindel. All members have gone through a double screening process that includes meeting Carly and Janis in person. Carly is the daughter of America's Top Matchmaker Janis Spindel and lived this business since she was 10 years old working side by side with her mother. Janis began her professional matchmaking career in 1993 and has over 4,012 marriages.

See full article at Send2Press Newswire

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S'More Raised $2.1M in Seed Round

DOT.LA - Jan 26 - The dating app, S'More, which is short for Something More, has raised $2.1M. The service, which debuted in LA in June, says it has registered ~165K users since it came out of stealth mode last March and is seeing 20% to 30% monthly growth. Users skew female and young, with more than half under 35 years old. On S'more, photos are blurred out until users have spent time talking to each other. The new funding will be used to expand the company's operations by hiring a full-time development team and expanding marketing to get ready for a full nationwide rollout.

by Ben Bergman
See full article at Dot.la

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Friendship and Dating App, Safe Soulmates, Gets £114K Funding Boost

ELYSTANDARD.CO.UK - Jan 22 - A dating app for people who have autism and learning difficulties has received a £114K funding grant from the National Lottery's Reaching Communities fund. Safe Soulmate was set up in December 2018.

by Ben Jolley
See full article at ElyStandard

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Dating Group Acquires Slow Dating App Once for $18M

WUV.DE - Jan 19 - Once, the dating app that connects two people once a day with the help of AI, has been acquired by Dating Group for $18M (a combination of cash and Dating Group shares). Once claims ~10M users, and is popular in Germany, France and Italy. Clémentine Lalande, Once CEO, will continue to lead the company. The 37-year-old founded another feminist dating app, called Pickable, which she sold to Once in May 2019, and became the CEO.

by Nadia Riaz
See full article at Wuv.de

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