With the pandemic, the way people date has changed. The online dating platforms have witnessed a significant surge in the number of users. The dating apps and websites have evolved to keep the users engaged by creating new digital spaces and expanding their offerings. The platforms have introduced new features such as virtual backgrounds, audio messaging and interactive games to keep members involved.
As the lockdown lifted and physical socialization normalized again, singles have become keener to date than ever. Several studies show that virtual dating and video chatting are here to stay even after covid disappears. The increase in the number of younger users signing up, more extended conversations on dating websites and apps, and video calling indicates that the trend will continue for a long time.
According to Statista, the global dating services market is projected to hit USD 10,867 million by 2025, with the number of users reaching 720.3 million.
Here we have carefully curated a list of the Top 10 Dating startups worldwide. The startups in this list are ranked according to the total funding they have raised to date. All these startups have distinguished themselves by the product or service they provide. Crunchbase and Pitchbook are the primary sources of data used in this article.
- Coffee Meets Bagel
- Founders: Arum Kang, Dawoon Kang, Soo Kang
- Founding Year: Feb 14, 2011
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
- Total Funding Received: USD 23,200,000
- Investors: DCM Ventures, WI Harper Group, Lightbank, Azure Capital Partners, CRCM Ventures, GingerBread Capital and others
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series B, USD 12,000,000
Coffee Meets Bagel is an online dating platform designed to help users connect with each other. The app allows women to decide who gets to talk to them among guys who expressed interest. This feature enables women to re-focus their time and energy on men who are serious about taking the next step. Its platform permits users to skip the small talk and start meaningful conversations with personalized Icebreakers, which enable users to find partners they can date confidently. The company claims to have generated over one million dates and thousands of lasting relationships.
- Happn
- Founders: Antony Cohen, Didier Rappaport, Fabien Cohen
- Founding Year: 2014
- Headquarters: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Total Funding Received: USD 22,000,000
- Investors: FJ Labs, Idinvest Partners, DN Capital, Fabrice Grinda, Daniel Curran, Alven and others
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: NA
Happn is a location-based dating application designed to help people contact each other over the internet to arrange a date. The startup enables users to find the people they’ve crossed paths with in real life and offers a second chance at a first impression. The company has amassed 100 million users worldwide. It is present in the world’s largest cities, including Paris, London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, New York, Montreal, Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Mumbai, New Delhi, Sydney, Tokyo and many more. Happn has a dedicated and highly motivated team of 120 people based in Paris. The app is available on iOS and Android.
- Xiaoenai
- Founders: Chao Zhong, Yifang Xiong, Yutao Huang
- Founding Year: 2011
- Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
- Total Funding Received: USD 13,488,374
- Investors: Meridian Capital, Tisiwi Ventures, GX Capital, Shanghai Guangya Touzi
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series A, USD 10,000,000
Xiaoenai is a dating application that promotes the interaction between the couple. The startup’s dating application helps to send text, voice messages and images, allowing users to share a common experience and communicate with each other. The company has been awarded the 2014-2015 Jinrui’s Best Innovation Award.
- EME Hive
- Founders: Kenn Ejima, Mariko Tokioka
- Founding Year: 2013
- Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
- Total Funding Received: USD 12,762,350
- Investors: 500 Startups, Mobile Internet Capital, DeNA, Asahi Media Lab Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, SEPTENI HOLDINGS Japan
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series B, USD 7,023,507
EME Hive is a community-based, social live streaming app for finding like-minded friends and partners. Through the power of live streaming technology, users can form real-time connections with members of their own communities. By offering a subscription dating service and a live streaming platform, EME makes it easy for users to flirt, chat, and date in real-time — all within the same app.
- Milian Technology
- Founder: Zhe Ren
- Founding Year: 2015
- Headquarters: Beijing, Beijing, China
- Total Funding Received: USD 11,446,906
- Investors: Shunwei Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Xiaomi, Sky9 Capital, XVC, People.Cn
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series B, NA
Milian Technology is a platform for dating and dating. According to different users’ needs, the company has launched a variety of dating products, including love in the same city, dating in the same city, love in the city, and many other Android clients. The registered users of the platform have exceeded 10 million, belonging to Beijing. The company’s platform provides real-time video interaction services and enables users to socialize with online strangers and efficiently improve their dating experience.
- Muzmatch
- Founders: Ryan Brodie, Shahzad Younas
- Founding Year: Oct 2014
- Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom
- Total Funding Received: USD 10,880,495
- Investors: Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Hambro Perks Ltd., Louis Beryl, Kingsway Capital, Luxor Capital Group and others
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series A, USD 7,000,000
Muzmatch is an online matchmaking platform intended to connect Muslim singles. The company’s dating application allows users to create personal chatting account, send and accept friend requests, share private information, post photos, earn reward points and arrange planned meet-ups with like-minded people. The startup has over 4 million users with 100k successes worldwide. Its users are based in the UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and hundreds of other countries.
- Qingchifan
- Founders: Gangqiang Liu
- Founding Year: Feb 1, 2014
- Headquarters: Beijing, Beijing, China
- Total Funding Received: USD 10,300,000
- Investors: Sequoia Capital, Vertex Ventures, Vertex Ventures China
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Series B, USD 10,300,000
Qingchifan is an online dating application with the aim to connect people at a dinner table. The company’s online dating application offers users to chat with each other and choose their date according to their preference, enabling users to make new friends and go on a date.
- Trulymadly.com
- Founders: Hitesh Dhingra, Rahul Kumar, Sachin Bhatia, Snehil Khanor
- Founding Year: 2013
- Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
- Total Funding Received: USD 8,923,539
- Investors: Venture Catalysts, Helion Venture Partners, 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund, AngelList, Kae Capital, Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels, Smile Group and others
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Seed, INR 160,000,000
TrulyMadly is an Indian-origin online dating and matchmaking platform for serious dating, accessible via Android and iOS apps and as a Progressive Web App (PWA), with more than 6 Million Users. The company’s website helps users to discover people through shared interests and personality profiles, enabling users to find their matches and socialize online. TrulyMadly fills in the gap between casual dating apps and matrimony websites, for the audience who is looking for something serious, by themselves and for themselves, without resorting to the matrimony websites, which majorly operate only on caste, religion and family wealth. The company has over 9 million users and over 35 million matches.
- Betterhalf
- Founders: Pawan Gupta, Rahul Namdev
- Founding Year: Aug 2016
- Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- Total Funding Received: USD 5,250,000
- Investors: Y Combinator, Tribe Capital, Quiet Capital, S2 Capital, Kunal Shah, Daniel Schryer, Shailesh Rao and others
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Seed, USD 3,000,000
Betterhalf.ai is a matrimonial application that intends to recreate the life-partner search experience. The company’s application uses an artificial intelligence-powered compatibility engine that uses machine learning and predictive analytics to find a suitable match. The startup is trusted by over 1 million verified users and made over 50K relationships. The company’s single-click onboarding technology predicts religion, language, salary insights, community and partner preferences of users in a single click.
- Jigsaw
- Founders: Alex Durrant, Max Adamski
- Founding Year: 2016
- Headquarters: Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Total Funding Received: USD 4,982,050
- Investors: The Relationship
- Last Funding Round Type and Deal Amount: Seed, £2,700,000
Jigsaw is a dating application that helps the user to talk and play games before seeing photos of each other. The company’s application consists of multiple jigsaw pieces initially covering each user’s face, popping away, one by one, as more and more messages are exchanged. The startup enables users to enjoy blind dating and understand each other’s personalities. The startup has over 100K users, and the app is compatible with both iPhone and Android.
For more extensive analysis and Market Intelligence reports feel free to approach us or visit our website: Venture Capital Market Intelligence Reports | VCBay.
We try our best to fact-check and bring the best, well-researched, and non-plagiarized content to you. Please let us know
-if there are any discrepancies in any of our published stories,
-how we can improve,
-what stories you would like us to cover and what information you are looking for, in the comments section below or through our contact form! We look forward to your feedback and thank you for stopping by!
Next Article
