Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

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.

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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

See all posts on Truly Madly                 See all posts on Matrimony.com
See all posts on Woo                            See all posts on Shaadi
See all posts on Betterhalf.AI               See all posts on iCrushiFlush

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AI-Powered Dating App Betterhalf.AI Helps Users Find the Perfect Life Partner

ANALYTICS INDIA MAGAZINE - Feb 10 - Two MIT alumni, Pawan Gupta and Rahul Namdev started Betterhalf.AI in 2016. Betterhalf.AI dating app uses artificial intelligence for professionals to find each other through compatibility scores based on multiple relationship dimensions and their interactions on the product. Currently, Betterhalf.AI has ~17k users, 30% are entrepreneurs, fashion designers, scientists and bankers. The profiles are authenticated through six levels of verification that includes LinkedIn, Facebook, personal email, phone number, work email, and a Government ID. Compatibility scores are calculated based on six-relationship dimensions: emotional, social, intellectual, relationship, physical, and moral values.

by Harshajit Sarmah
See full article at Analytics India Magazine

See all posts on Betterhalf.AI

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Millennials in India Are Turning to Algorithms to Find Their Match

BLOOMBERG - Jan 24 - Pawan Gupta wasn't having any luck finding a match so he teamed up with engineer Rahul Namdev to start an AI-powered matchmaking app, called Betterhalf.AI. The dating app, funded by 15 angel investors including half a dozen MIT alumni, puts users through several levels of verification comprising social networks, phone number, personal and work e-mail, and government ID. New users answer a breadth of questions on moral values, emotions and personality. That information is then melded with data from married individuals, open-source data and compatibility research. Betterhalf is targeted solely at people looking for a serious relationship. The start-up has 15 employees. There's plenty of competition in the new AI space including Truematch. Matrimony.com, which has 3.7M active users, is developing an AI-powered chatbot that it plans to deploy later this year.

by Saritha Rai
See full article at Bloomberg

See all posts on Betterhalf.AI
See all posts on Matrimony.com

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Dating Startup Betterhalf.AI Raises $500K In Seed Funding

ANALYTICS INDIA MAGAZINE - Oct 11 - AI-based dating startup raised $500K in a seed funding round. The investors included former MD of Google India Shailesh Rao, former investment director of Flipkart Rehan A Khan along with other senior investors. The startup has already raised ~$750K till now. Founded in 2016, by two MIT alumni, Pawan Gupta and Rahul Namdev, Betterhalf.AI uses artificial intelligence to find matches through compatibility scores based on multiple relationship dimensions and their interactions on the product.

by Prajakta Hebbar
See full article at Analytics India Magazine

See all posts on Betterhalf.AI

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the IDEA team

Indian Betterhalf.AI Uses Artificial Intelligence To Predict Matches

INDIAN EXPRESS - Apr 14 - Betterhalf.AI was launched by Pawan Gupta and Rahul Namdev in 2016. The app applies a six-level verification system adding Facebook profiles, personal email, phone number, work email and government ID. The idea was conceived by the duo while they were searching for their life partners on different matrimonial and dating sites. Pawan, who is CEO, claims the platform currently is used by ~1k users on a daily basis and is growing at 100% week on week, with majority from the age group of 25-35 years. Users answers 16 personality questions, which are used to find suitable matches. As they interact with users, their matches improve over time.

by Hansa Verma
See full article at Indian Express

Summarized by the IDEA team