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

The Biggest Pitfalls of Online Dating in India

TIMES OF INDIA - Jan 18 - When it comes to marriage, Indian families have traditionally relied on the referrals route. The online matchmaking industry in India is now almost two decades old, and one big benefit it has brought is exponentially increasing the choices available to those seeking partners. According to a Ken Research Report of 2016, India's online matchmaking industry revenues are set to touch $318M by 2020. The biggest pitfalls of online dating are security and safety. Not surprisingly, the gender ratio is highly skewed in favour of males. A survey by dating app Woo puts the ratio of male: female at 74:26. Woo says it keeps users' personal details confidential, analyses users' digital footprint to verify relationship status and professional information, and enables women to call matched profiles without revealing their own phone numbers. TrulyMadly, another player in the space uses a trust score for authenticity and gets the user Facebook-verified. However, possibly the safest method of matchmaking or dating still remains the referrals route. Dating app Ponder uses referrals from family members and close friends to help its users find the special one.

See full article at Times of India

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TrulyMadly Turns Profitable in FY18 But Revenue Down by 50%

ENTRACKR - Jan 9 - Online dating has been a tough business to crack in India. This can be gauged from the financial performance of TrulyMadly. While the company has turned profitable in FY18, its revenue has suffered a 50% dip during the same fiscal. With Rs 2.3 lakhs ($3K) worth of profit, TrulyMadly has posted a revenue of Rs 3.61 crore ($500K) in FY18 as compared to Rs 7.21 crore ($1M) in the preceding fiscal. Subscription has contributed ~54.2% of overall revenue in FY18. Its revenue from paid service stood at Rs 1.95 crore ($276K) which is 69.8% up from the previous fiscal. Founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra, and Rahul Kumar, TrulyMadly lets singles discover each other through shared interests and personality profiles. The company competes with Tinder, Hyderabad-based QuackQuack, Woo, Bumble and a handful of others.

by Yanogya Sharma
See full article at Entrackr

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Young Indians Are Using Dating Apps For Much More Than Just Dating

QUARTZ INDIA - Oct 8 - Last week, Bumble announced its foray into India. Besides Tinder, Bumble will compete with homegrown players like TrulyMadly and Woo. Winning over India may not be easy, since dating apps here are not exactly used the way they are in the West. Launched in 2014, TrulyMadly claims to be the market leader with a monthly download rate of ~65K. The uses of a dating app are pretty standard across the world. But there are a couple of differences in how Indians use them. A lot of 18- 21-year-olds use them to make friends. The 26+ audience uses dating apps pretty much as the first step towards matrimony. TrulyMadly revenue comes mostly from micro-transactions, rather than ads or membership. Users can buy a pack of Sparks to communicate on the platform or buy Select and get matched with the similar type of profiles.

by Kuwar Singh
See full article at Quartz India

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People Group's Anupam Mittal Leads Funding Round In Shared Space Firm myHQ

VCCIRCLE - July 27 - Delhi-based co-working space startup myHQ, run by JustWork Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has raised $500K (Rs 3.4 crore) in a new round of funding, a company statement said. The round was led by Anupam Mittal, founder of People Group, which runs online matrimony site Shaadi.com. The round also saw participation from Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of dating app TrulyMadly. The startup will use the funds to expand its operations to over 200 spaces across three cities.

by Dearton Thomas Hector
See full article at VCCircle

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TrulyMadly Reports A Flat Growth

ENTRACKR - June 30 - TrulyMadly began operations in India in early 2014. Since then, the company has been steadily moving forward without losing much money. But, at the same time, it's not growing unlike other Internet-businesses across segments. TrulyMadly clocked a revenue of Rs 7.2 crore (~$1M) in FY17, ~4% growth compared to the previous fiscal. So far, TrulyMadly had raised about $6M from Helion Ventures and Kae Capital. Besides subscription, the company makes money via 'Select' matchmaking service.

by Tausif Alam
See full article at Entackr

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India Has Lots Of Single Women, But Not On Tinder

WALL STREET JOURNAL - June 25 - Tinder's biggest challenge in India appears to be getting enough women to sign on. In many parts of India, arranged marriages remain the norm, and dating in any form still carries a stigma, particularly for women. Indian women who have dabbled with dating apps complain they get overwhelmed by all the attention that comes with the surplus of men. Tinder doesn't disclose a gender breakdown, but among the app's members in India, men far outnumber women. The dating app TrulyMadly, which says women make up ~20% of its users, is trying to introduce women to the concept of "boy browsing" through a YouTube video. Another competitor, Woo, allows women on its app free but charges men, and lets women use initials rather than full names.

by Georgia Wells & Eric Bellman
See full article at Wall Street Journal

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UK-based Digital Identity App Yoti To Work With Indian Dating App Truly Madly

BUSINESS TODAY - Apr 9 - TrulyMadly users will now be able to use Yoti to verify their personal details, such as name and age, which will boost the Trust Score on their profile, giving other daters assurance that the profile is genuine. This is Yoti's first partnership in India after launching its services in the country earlier this month. The app, which has usage for end-users as well as companies, has been downloaded ~500k times so far on Play Store. The company had raised 8M pounds of funding in November and is valued at 65M pounds. The company is targeting India, US and UK markets initially and is looking at sectors of banking and financial services, dating, insurance, peer to peer commerce, for more partnerships.

by Devika Singh
See full article at Business Today

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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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