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

Indian Online Matchmakers Are Evolving To Keep Pace With Times

FINANCIAL EXPRESS - Apr 24 - No more are profiles on a Shaadi.com or Jeevansathi.com handled by parents or aunts as youngsters are getting conscious about connecting with the right person. Further helping them achieve this goal are dating apps such as Floh, TrulyMadly, Tinder, Happn, etc. While dating apps target 18-24 year olds, matrimonial sites are aiming for people 24+. "We don't see people moving away from our models to dating apps to find a partner. In fact, there is a very small number of people that overlaps," asserts Gourav Rakshit, CEO, Shaadi.com. Players in both segments are dependent on a freemium model.

by Chandni Mathur
See full article at Financial Express

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33% Of Indian Couples Met Online

THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE - Mar 24 - In 2007, the online matchmaking industry was centered around matrimonial sites like Shaadi.com. Ten years down the line, the landscape looks completely different. Online dating is now a growth industry. ~67% of Indian singles know couples dating online, and 33% of the couples surveyed had met online, according to digital research consultancy Mindshift Metrics. The online dating space has been growing at an explosive pace in urban India, driven by Tinder. Alongside international competitor OkCupid, local apps like TrulyMadly and Woo are snapping at Tinder's heels. Newer apps like SirfCoffee and Find Life Over Here (FLOH) are trying to create a middle ground between casual dating and traditional matrimonial sites. Both FLOH and SirfCoffee take the exclusive route — users can't just join, they have to go through a screening that includes detailed application forms and face-to-face interviews, either in person or through video-conferencing.

by Bhanuj Kappal
See full article at The Hindu Business Line

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In The Age Of Tinder, India's Matrimonial Sites Are Trying To Adapt

QZ - Mar 14 - Matrimonial websites in India aren't what they used to be. Earlier this month, Shaadi.com, one of India's largest matrimonial sites, launched an online campaign titled "Ladies First," which encourages women to make the first move. "Our audience is changing every day," said Gourav Rakshit, CEO at Shaadi.com. Similarly, a Jeevansaathi.com campaign last year focused on encouraging women to get online to find a match. India's sizeable youth population and growing smartphone penetration have meant that casual dating apps, too, are doing brisk business. India is Tinder's fastest-growing market in Asia, even as home-grown apps like TrulyMadly and Woo make merry. Yet, there are some things that haven't changed. It is still a conservative society where arranged marriages are still the norm.

by Suneera Tandon
See full article at QZ

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Dating Apps In India Pave New Path To Getting Hitched

THE ECONOMIC TIMES - Nov 4 - In all, TrulyMadly, Woo and Tinder have ~1M monthly active users in India, according to a report in tech journal iGadgetsworld. While data for matrimonial sites were not available, experts foresee dating apps catching up. Ritesh Banglani, who led an investment in TrulyMadly last year, said 25-35% of the "users on dating apps are looking for marriage". The trend of arranged marriages is likely to continue to decline and the logical next step for matrimonial sites would be to stay relevant either by innovating or acquire a leading dating app in India." Matrimony.com, which operates BharatMatrimony, acquired Matchify in April last year but CEO Murugavel Janakiraman insists that dating apps aren't able to scale up or make money here. "We tried out Matchify but India has a largely traditional user base so these apps are not going to work here," he said. Gourav Rakshit, CEO of Shaadi.com, conceded that although the site gets ~11K new registrations every day, many of its users are on dating apps as well.

by Shashwati Shankar
See full article at The Economic Times

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India's Millennials Are Turning To Home-grown Dating Apps

THE NATIONAL - Oct 29 - In India arranged marriages continue to be the norm. A 2013 survey revealed that 75% of young Indians prefer arranged marriages. ~22M Indians use matrimonial sites such as BharatMatrimony, Shaadi.com and Jeevansathi. "India has 100M people over the age of 21 who are looking for partners. For them, matrimonial sites, with parents interfering, are not cool," says Hitesh Dhingra, co-founder of dating app TrulyMadly. TrulyMadly launched in India in 2014. It verifies personal details of its users because fake profiles are a big problem in India. ~3M Indians have downloaded dating app Woo. Woo demonstrates the rise of home-grown dating apps in India. While Tinder is well known, the indigenous online offerings are tailored to Indian cultural needs. Other apps include Aisle, which describes itself as a cross between a dating and a matrimonial app. Another offering is Floh (Find Life Over Here), which operates in 15 cities and five countries.

by Amrit Dhillon
See full article at The National

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Most Indian Dating Apps Cater To People Who Are Serious

BUSINESS INSIDER - Oct 26 - Today, online dating is all about swiping left or right on smartphones. Unlike the West, where one night stands is not seen as a social taboo, in India, people browsing dating apps, often look for a long time commitment. "We aren't like Western dating apps, which are primarily for 'hook-ups'. Nor are we traditional desi matrimonial sites. We've tried to remove the taboo from the term 'dating' in the Indian world by associating it with safety and compatibility", said Sachin Bhatia, CEO and Co-Founder of TrulyMadly, a dating app. Another dating app, Woo, has started for people looking for a relationship. Woo has a Trust Score for every user, based on the amount of information a user volunteers to share with the app. This impacts the matches she/he receives. There is also a manual verification system in place to double check profiles.

by Suchayan Mandal
See full article at Business Insider

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In India, Dating Apps Are Helping The LGBTQ Community Find Love

HINDUSTAN TIMES - Sep 8 - Online matchmaking in India has come a long way since shaadi.com launched in 1996. Tinder, launched in India in 2014, followed by Indian dating apps TrulyMadly (2015) and ekCoffee (2016). The earliest queer dating platform, PlanetRomeo, launched worldwide in 2002. It claims 3M users globally and India comprises 7% of that. Grindr, with 10M users worldwide, recorded a gradual increase from 11k to 69k monthly users between 2011 and 2015 from India. The figures convinced Scruff, an American dating app for men, to enter India in July this year.

by Poorva Joshi
See full article at Hindustan Times

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Modern-Day Dating Apps In India

THE WEEK - Aug 28 - Online platforms are changing the way Indians are finding love today. In the past marriages were arranged mostly through close friends and family members. There was no concept of dating. But today, with the all the dating apps, finding the right life partner often means a heavy investment of time and effort. But on the other side, there are those like web developer Rohan Mehta, 23, "an introverted tech geek" who found that Tinder helped him come out of his shell. "I joined Tinder to become more social and ended up making a few good friends. I even met a girl and we dated for a while." Tinder became available in India in 2013 and launched its operations here this year. Taru Kapoor, the app's India head, says the country is Tinder's fastest-growing market and has an energetic and diverse user base. There are also some home-grown apps like TrulyMadly, Woo and Aisle. All three came into existence with the founding members looking for a solution to their own dating woes. Launched in India in 2014, Woo has got ~3M downloads and is expanding to countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Unlike Tinder, Woo is designed to disallow married people from signing up. The founders estimate that the market of singles aged 24 and above is ~20M currently and will grow to 50M in the next three years. Aisle, the 2 years old app calls itself the 'middle path between traditional matrimony sites and casual dating apps'.

by Shalini Singh
See full article at The Week

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Can Dating Apps Co-exists With Matrimonial Sites?

BESTMEDIA INFO - May 19 - After TrulyMadly and Woo launching in 2014, Tinder came up with a storm in January 2016 and destabilised the market to some extent. Tinder saw 97% growth in active user base in the last few months and 400% increase in app downloads since its launch in India. TrulyMadly gets new users every day and they spend ~45 minutes daily on the app. Woo too has ~2.5 M users. Sachin Bhatia, CEO of TrulyMadly, said, "We are looking at a major disruption in matrimonial websites." Co-founder and CEO, Woo, believes in co-existence. "Dating apps are going to co-exist for the next 15-20 years. Eventually, the younger audience will stop using these websites. I don't think the country is in a situation that anything is going to get replaced soon." But Aditya Save, CMO of Shaadi.com, said, "I don't see dating apps as a competition."

by Akansha Mihir Mota
See full article at BestMedia Info

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Tinder's Competition In India

EXCHANGE FOR MEDIA - Apr 26 - Taru Kapoor is focusing on establishing Tinder in India. The 97% growth of its active user base in India over three months and 400% increase of app downloads over the last year explains Tinder's strategy to open its first international office in Delhi. Close behind is TrulyMadly; launched in 2014 whose market share is 2.5%. Another homegrown app built in 2014, Woo has 2.5M users. QuackQuack has 1.3M users. Ravi Mittal, founder, QuackQuack says, "Our focus has been more on the casual side of dating." TrulyMadly only considers Tinder as its main competition. Woo's marketing strategy focuses on social media. For QuackQuack, simple banner ads have been effective for driving good ROI till date. TrulyMadly, Woo and Tinder have also invested in events.

by Madhuwanti Saha
See full article at Exchange For Media

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Indians Embrace Dating Apps

STRAITSTIMES - Feb 28 - Tinder started gaining traction in 2013, opening an office in India last month, while Indian dating apps like TrulyMadly, Woo, and Floh.in - which all promise a more lasting relationship - have since gained attention in a country where over half of the 1.25B population is under 35. The apps are popular with those between the ages of 18 and 34. TrulyMadly has 500k active users. Tinder has seen more than a 400% increase in downloads over the last year. Over the last six months alone, it has gone from 7.5M to 14M swipes every day. Another app, Woo, grew from 10k users in its first month in the southern city of Bangalore to 2M subscribers across the cities when it launched in 2014. It promises "connections not swipes", targeting those aged 25 and above.

by Nirmala Ganapathy
See full article at StraitsTimes

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Is Tinder Copying TrulyMadly's Marketing Strategies?

BRAND EQUITY - Feb 17 - Nine out of ten brands copy the one successful player's strategy. You ought to copy smart not to get sued. Indian dating app TrulyMadly feels that Tinder has been copying its initiatives ever since the dating app started in India.

Allegation #1
In Nov '15, TrulyMadly teamed up with restaurants to provide offers to its users to encourage them to go on a date, called Datelicious. In Jan '16 Tinder India announced a similar offer with Zomato, called 'Tinderlicious'.

Allegation #2
In Aug '15, TrulyMadly started speed dating. In Jan '16, Tinder tied up with Food Walk India for #DinnerWithStrangers initiative.

Allegation #3
Tinder recently did a video with content creators The Viral Fever (TVF) titled 'Eat, Pray...Swipe'. "It was the same script that TVF had pitched us first and my content team had rejected it", claims TrulyMadly. To say Tinder is copying TrulyMadly by getting TVF is stretching it a tad. Also, speed dating originated in Jerusalem in 1974. So, none can claim copyright for the idea. Sumesh Menon, co-founder & CEO of Woo (yet another match-making app) thinks Tinderlicious is just happy coincidence. "They are a big company, globally. We look up to them. But I feel Tinder is just taking shortcuts", says Sachin Bhatia, co-founder & CEO of TrulyMadly.

by Shephali Bhatt
See full article at Brand Equity

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Changing Trends In India

HINDUSTANTIMES - Feb 14 - 2M people are on TrulyMadly, hoping to find a partner. There are many who are on the lookout for a casual relationship, a one-night-stand, or maybe to date for a few months. Less than a decade ago, this was unheard of and people usually met in a social environment or at the workplace. Dating apps like TM, Woo and Tinder are bringing about a tech-revolution of sorts in the world of dating. "We are not promising or helping find love, we are making people meet. Close to 80% of the singles on our app is in the age group of 18-26," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder and CEO of TM. India has 250M singles according to recent census data. Since 2001, the number of unmarried women between the age of 20 and 29 years has gone up by 60%. Marriage is not the priority anymore, and the millennial generation wants to be with someone they know or are in love with and with people that share their interests, hobbies and profession. "Youngsters are not so much driven by the social fabric; they don't want to outsource their relation to parents," Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of Woo, which too boasts of 2M users. Both Woo and TM claim to be for serious relationships and for singles.

by Sunny Sen
See full article at HindustanTimes

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The Business Of Dating Apps Is Disrupting Indian Culture

QUARTZ - Oct 1 - Tinder launched in 2013 in USA. Two years on, India is Tinder's top market in Asia. There are ~7.5M swipes in India each day, according to Tinder's spokesperson. Tinder users in India also send the most messages per match globally. The success of Tinder has encouraged several Indian entrepreneurs to launch dating app such as Woo or TrulyMadly. But the new dating apps are focusing more on women's safety and long term relationships. In March 2015, TrulyMadly raised $5.7M (Rs35 crore). This year has already seen several other dating apps raise funds. In July, iCrushiFlush had raised an undisclosed amount. In November 2014, another dating app Vee raised $1M.

by Shelly Walia & Itika Sharma Punit
The full article was originally published at SBS, but is no longer available.

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Dating Venture Truly Madly Goes App-only

TECH CIRCLE - Sep 2 - Indian dating service Truly Madly has stopped registrations and dating activities on its website. 98% of its members were using the site on their mobiles. Truly Madly was started in February 2014 by Dhingra, Sachin Bhatia and Rahul Kumar. The startup raised ~$5.6M in Series A funding from early stage investors Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital in March this year.

by Varun Arora
See full article at Tech Circle

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