LINKEDIN - Breeze is a new dating app based in the Netherlands. The app, which encourages offline dates, has recently raised €1.3M. Breeze's users cannot chat but can immediately plan a date with their matches via the app.
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BUSINESS INSIDER - Investors include Chris Kaufman, the co-founder of the sneaker marketplace StockX, and Kevin Edwards, the CEO of the Canadian food-delivery service SkipTheDishes, along with several angel investors. The app, expected to launch early next year, aims to cater to Gen Z, with the possibility for users to video chat, play games, and send each other virtual gifts. The app has brought on the Internet star Cameron Dallas, who rose to fame in the early 2010s on the short-form video app Vine and now has ~25M Instagram followers. He previously co-founded a subscription platform called Fanfix. SuperOrdinary, a beauty accelerator, acquired Fanfix in July in an eight-figure deal.
by Marta Biino
See full article at Business Insider
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DUA.COM - Headquartered in Zurich, dua.com initiated its operations in late 2019. It started by reconnecting Albanians, its first globally fragmented community with a large diaspora. With an initially small team, dua.com joined numerous incubators in Europe and the U.S., namely the Harvard Innovation Labs, Uplift Europe, and Innovation Centre Kosovo. dua.com connects international migrants, expats, and diaspora communities. It has acquired the German dating app 'Spotted.de', and combined the platforms - dua.com and Spotted.de - have 5M registered users. The company completed Seed and Series A rounds, raising a total of $4.9M.
by Argjenda Selmani
See full article at Dua.com blog
See the top news on Dua.com
See the top news on Spotted
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B&T - The $2.2M funding announcement follows Ziinkle's acceptance into the world-renowned Newchip Accelerator Program, where the tech startup was chosen out of over 1K applicants. Launched in March 2022, Ziinkle gets people meeting in real life by providing real-time information about which venues are buzzing with singles.
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SMART COMPANY - Urban Swan is a Gen Z dating startup based in Australia, that partners with Sydney and Melbourne vendors to provide users with unforgettable date experiences. Currently focused on Sydney, the cash injection will help fund its expansions to other major Australian cities in 2023. Urban Swan was founded in 2021. It taps into the 'experience economy' that has become increasingly popular with millennials and gen Z thanks to TikTok and Instagram.There has been a demand for interesting and fun experiences that go beyond bars and restaurants. Urban Swan cited some of its most popular dates include axe throwing, pottery classes and infrared saunas. According to Urban Swan, 72% of the customers are aged 18-35 and they're spending an average of $150 per experience.
by Tegan Jones
See full article at Smart Company
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OPW INTERVIEW - Last week, the fitness dating app FITFCK announced an investment at $3M valuation from OnlyFans founder, Timothy Stokely. We have reached out to Jamie to learn more about his app and the investment.
What made you start FITFCK?
FITFCK was created when my girlfriend broke up with me just weeks before my first bodybuilding show due to my excessive training commitments and lifestyle. So you could say that the motivation comes from the fact that the founder is an actual case study of the problem we are looking to solve!
How is FITFCK better than other dating apps?
FITFCK offers a niche for gym lovers to connect through their common love for fitness, which they would not be able to do on mass market dating apps. We are also focused on building a multi level consumer brand, not just a dating app.
How did you meet the Founder of OnlyFans?
Through an Instagram DM!
What will you do with the money to grow FitFck?
We will be using the money to build our audience and complete our app build which is releasing in November.
How does the OnlyFans founder view the investment, FitFck and the dating space in general?
Here is his quote: !I am delighted to have had the opportunity to invest in FITFCK" says Timothy Stokely. "Having known Jamie for over 3 years now, his vision, drive and determination coupled with the brand concept is something that I fully believe in and I am looking forward to seeing it realise its global potential as a multi level consumer brand."
How are you planning on building your audience? i.e. influencers?
Social media marketing across a number of platforms, including influencers.
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LINKEDIN - FITFCK is a dating app that allows users to filter potential dating or training partners by fitness level, gender, sexuality, location and age. The app was launched in 2018 by Jamie Wykes-Hobday.
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PR NEWSWIRE - CarpeDM has closed its oversubscribed pre-seed financing round, bringing total capital raised by the early stage startup to $1.054M. CarpeDM is a tech-enabled matchmaking service and video-based dating app designed to help professional Black women, and all those seeking to date them, find love. The app is currently available in the Washington D.C. area.
See full article at PR Newswire
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STANFORD DAILY - Marriage Pact, a research-based matchmaking company founded at Stanford, received $5M in seed funding. The service is active on 60 college campuses. The Marriage Pact closed the deal this September, joining Bain's $10 billion portfolio of assets under management. The Marriage Pact releases an annual survey for college students with 50 questions. Marriage Pact's software then algorithmically pairs respondents to maximize their compatibility.
by Matthew Turk
See full article at Stanford Daily
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VENTUREBEAT - Smitten, a dating app for Generation Z and Centennials, has raised $10M in Series A funding. Among the investors are Makers Fund, Possible Ventures, Wonder Invest, and more. This new round of funding will help the company expand into new territories and grow its user base. As the app shows users different profiles, they have the options to play games to get to know the person.
by Jason McMaster
See full article at VentureBeat
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PRESS RELEASE - LuvHut, a dating app founded in Boston, is acquiring Dive, an event-based platform for singles. The platform allows users to book dates directly in the app while helping partnered restaurants increase visibility and reservations from LuvHut users. To date, LuvHut has raised $460K and plans to use these funds to bolster its footprint across New England and Florida after the acquisition of Dive.
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BUSINESS INSIDER - AB InBev is known for beer brands such as Bud Light, Stella Artois, and Hoegaarden. ZX Ventures, the beverage giant's venture arm, made a $2M investment in Filteroff, a dating app that connects people through digital and in-person events. The companies collaborate on in-person dating events that AB InBev supplies with beer. Filteroff, launched in 2019, hosts virtual speed-dating events through its app, where attendees talk on video chat and have the option to set up a second date later. The app has also started organizing events where singles can meet face-to-face over a beer.
by Alex Bitter
See full article at Business Insider
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TECH CRUNCH - Alex Hofmann once served as Musical.ly's president, overseeing the North and South American markets for the TikTok precursor, then leaving shortly after the app exited to Chinese tech giant ByteDance in 2017. He launched 9count, the maker of the popular friend-finder Wink, mobile dating app Summer (previously Spark), and others. 9count is raising $27.5M in new funding which is an extension of 9count's earlier Series A and includes only its existing investors. 9count's backers were impressed with the metrics coming out of Summer, which launched as Spark back in May but later rebranded. The dating app targets a younger demographic, ages 18 and up. But unlike traditional swipe-based dating apps, Summer shows many users at once - an experience meant to more closely mimic the way it feels to walk into a crowded space in real life. Summer has ~300K monthly active users and 500K downloads. Hofmann claims it's the fastest-growing dating app to hit the market since Bumble arrived in 2014. The video chat app Wink has 2M monthly active users, remaining 9count's largest app to date. In total, 9count's app portfolio now reaches ~10M users.
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DOT.LA - LA-based online dating startup Blink doesn't show singles any photos of potential matches right away. Instead, the app pairs users in 10-minute, audio-only speed dates. The app, still in beta, matches users only if there's mutual interest. Blink was one of eight startups to pitch themselves to investors during Snap's Yellow Accelerator Demo Day. The event is part of a 12-week curriculum run by Snap, which mentors early-stage startups on topics ranging from business strategy to fundraising. Snap invests $150K in each firm.
by Christian Hetrick
See full article at Dot.LA
See the top news on Blink Date
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BUSINESS-LIVE.CO.UK - Women Angels of the North was launched by Fund Her North in 2021 to help female founders raise money for their startups. The female angel syndicate has helped founders across the North to raise ~£2.4M for 6 businesses, including Safer Date, Atelerix, Rarecan, Chu Lo and Dear Bump. Safer Date was the recipient of the group's first funding round and has recently closed on its second round of funding with the help of Women Angels of the North. Safer Date was founded by Elaine Parker following a harrowing online dating experience with a man that had a long history of domestic abuse. Safer Date verifies all its members. The app initially raised £225K in October 2021.
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