Aisle.co handpicks its users after a process of screening. It has around 500-800 registrations per day in over 50 countries.
Mumbai: Online matchmaking company Aisle Network Pvt. Ltd said on Thursday that it has raised Rs.1.25 crore in a pre-series A round of funding from TermSheet.io and ah! Ventures, with investments from key angel investors Mekin Maheshwari and Anand Chandrasekaran. It had raised $100,000 in seed funding from a group of angel investors last year.
The Bengaluru-based company that was founded in 2014 by Able Joseph is looking to use the funds for hiring larger teams and entering into partnerships.
“Online dating has seen very little innovation in the past couple of decades. Rarely do we see a dating app that is monetized from day one. When Aisle reached out to us, we instantly realized the potential in the product, the execution and the traction that it had gained,” said Harsh Lahoti, founder and chief executive officer, ah! Ventures in a statement.
Aisle.co handpicks its users after a process of screening. It has around 500-800 registrations per day in over 50 countries. “A balanced gender ratio coupled with a trustworthy brand which has gathered a comprehensive list of users who are of similar mind-sets when it comes to attractiveness and compatibility is exactly what urban India needs in the matchmaking space. Not everyone has got the formula right, and I feel we have managed to add most value in the online dating space for Indians,” said Joseph.
Online dating in India is in its initial stages of growth. Other Indian companies that operate in this space include Trulymadly that raised Rs.35 crore from Helion and Kae Capital in 2015, Living Consumer Products Pvt. Ltd that operates the dating app iCrushiFlush raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a pre-series A (early stage) from IDG Ventures in 2015, and in 2014 Vee raised $1million from Lightspeed.
Even large companies are looking to bet on this space in India. Thrill raised an undisclosed amount from People Group, which owns matrimonial portal Shaadi.com, in 2015 and global company Tinder Inc. has increased its focus on the Indian market by appointing Taru Kapoor as India head and adding localised features for the app in India this year.
[“source-Livemint”]
