Homegrown Brand Aisle Launches Jalebi, The Dating App for Desi GenZs

Aisle's new venture is making 'Seriously good dating' a real thing for Gen Z's

Aisle, India's market leader in high-intent dating apps, unveiled Jalebi, the newest addition to their suite of dating apps, this week. Exclusively built for the single, progressive and predominantly Gen Z market, Jalebi makes way for a long overdue glow-up in the Indian dating scene. Jalebi is a loud, proud and authentic voice created to inspire and help members meet the right people in a safe environment.

Aisle's new venture captures the attention of singles who are tired of frivolous, casual dating and are looking at dating with a little more depth. Aptly named to highlight its desi and out-of-the-box features, Jalebi caters to the urban Indian youth’s need for intelligent dating and meaningful companionship in a sea of dating apps that do the opposite.

With the tagline 'Seriously good dating', Jalebi aims to be the antidote to the shallow and often inconsequential arc of game-like casual dating.

Inspired by the neo-pop art movement, Jalebi introduces desi-modern and vibrant visuals into the app's framework. Other than a safe and friendly community of singles, Jalebi's features include selfie-verified profiles to create a more credible community, a mosaic profile design that makes more information about a member available at a glance, and audio prompt options that allow members to level up on their dating game to establish a higher level of trust.

Able Joseph

Sharing his excitement on the launch of Jalebi, Able Joseph, Founder & CEO, Aisle said, "Aisle has never really ventured into the 18-24 age group - a generation that is way more open and aware of what's happening around the world. It was time to think differently for our growing audience - and create an experience that matched this segment's dating goals. Jalebi is a new take on relationships and dating for the younger generation. The aim is to provide members with a trustworthy space to connect and have their voice heard."

With the launch of Jalebi, Aisle hopes to disrupt casual dating by making dating amongst the urban progressive youth more intelligent. Jalebi is now available to download on iOS and Android! Jalebi Super Subscription is available for Rs. 599 a month, Rs. 1499 for 3 months and Rs. 2499 for 6 months.

About Aisle:

Based out of Bangalore, Aisle is India's market leader in high-intent dating apps built for Indians by Indians. Designed for people of Indian origin from around the world who are looking for serious relationships, Aisle has staked its claim on the middle ground between traditional matrimonial websites and casual dating apps. It's focused on the nuances of romance and true love in the Indian context. Through its proprietary algorithm, Aisle empowers its users to celebrate their diversity by prioritizing results based on the things that matter most to them – from mother tongue and hobbies to interests and life philosophies.

This unique approach to dating has made Aisle the fastest-growing dating company in India. It is also the first company to introduce vernacular dating to India. Today, Aisle and its vernacular apps- Arike, Anbe, and Neetho have acquired over 15 million users, many of whom are NRIs from across 100 countries. As of March 2022, Aisle is part of InfoEdge, one of India's largest tech public companies.

Dating Apps for People Who Care About Nature

You’ve no doubt heard that opposites attract. Allegedly, people with different interests, hobbies and positions in life complement each other, bring something new into the life of each other and broaden their horizons. However, everything isn’t quite so simple.

In some cases, differences between partners can be detrimental to relationships:

1. Overly conservative views from one partner. When one person longs for complete control over the other and the second wants to retain complete freedom, this sooner or later leads to conflict.
   
2. Lack of acceptance of differences. One way or another, people have to adapt to each other as a couple. But it doesn't always work out. As a result, it’s sometimes impossible to achieve a compromise that is comfortable for both.
   
3. Dependence on other people's opinions. This is another very important factor that can greatly affect your relationship. You need to learn to distance yourself from other people’s opinions and defend your own position.
   

It turns out that opposites attract, but do not always get along together. So if you’re in search of a mate, we advise you to look for people with whom your interests and life position are in sympathy. Even if it's not an easy task.

Dating on the Internet and caring for nature — are they compatible?

Very compatible! Especially as in recent years, a lot of dating sites and applications have appeared that are made for a "green" audience. We thought we’d simplify your search a little and compile a list of these services for your reference:

1. Vegaia — a popular dating site for vegetarians that has been operating since 2008. Registration here is free and simple — it takes literally just two minutes. According to the developers of Vegaia, there are more than 7,000 single vegetarians on the site who are interested in relationships. Of course, this is not as many as, for example, on Tinder or Badoo. But it’s much easier to meet like-minded people here.
   
2. Dolfin — a dating site for people who love nature. In particular, they care about the cleanliness of the world's oceans. There are many people on the site who are fond of watersports and do their best to preserve the planet's water resources in their purest form. Dolfin is especially popular among surfers.
   
3. Green Singles — a dating site for eco-activists who care about our environment. Among the interesting features of the site is the ability to choose how to search for a suitable pair — by postal code or by location. You can also choose the sexual orientation and age of a potential partner.
   
4. Ecodate — a fairly popular dating site for eco-conscious people who love nature, care about the environment and want to save the planet for future generations. The site is most popular in the UK, but gradually its reach is expanding.
   
5. EliteSingles — not exactly an eco site, but definitely worth checking out. A unique algorithm for intellectual matchmaking is used here, which is able to accurately select the right match for you according to your interests and life values. Including taking into account your green position. According to the developers, more than 85% of EliteSingles users are people with higher education, so they tend to be more  conscious and responsible.
   
6. MeetMindful — a dating platform for people who lead a healthy and green lifestyle, care for the environment, follow the rules of conscious eating, and so on. Each user can select their interests here for a more accurate search for a partner: yoga, personal growth, ecological lifestyle, volunteering, a conscious diet, creativity, and more.
   

This is only a small part of online dating services created for people with an environmentally friendly lifestyle and those who are looking for like-minded people. Although many of them can’t boast of an audience of millions, it is still possible to find the perfect match here. Even better, such sites are suitable for finding like-minded people and friends with the same interests. For example, to join your eco-project that needs support. But if your goal is just finding promising matches, it may be worth considering alternatives.

Should you limit yourself to the classic online dating format?

No, we’re convinced that it is not worth it. There are several reasons for this in the context of our today's topic:

1. On dating sites and apps, people often embellish their profiles and give themselves the “right” interests and lifestyle, just to please others. In fact, it often turns out that this is an outright lie.
   
2. The audience for "green" dating services is quite small. Using such platforms, you severely limit your potential social circle. As a result, you reduce the chances of a successful and promising interaction.
   
3. The functionality of such sites, as a rule, is very poor. Small audience means a small income. It is simply unprofitable for the developers to actively develop new features. Adding video chat and other convenient features is usually out of the question.
   

You can use "green" dating sites and apps, but you should definitely not focus on them alone. If you want to expand your social circle, get to know your chat partners better and meet new people every day, look for an alternative. One of the best options is random video chat.

Random chat: changing the idea of online dating

The first random video chat sites began to appear in 2009. These were Omegle and Chatroulette. They allowed random users to communicate via video, discuss almost any topic, get to know each other and then meet in real life in order to develop relationships offline.

Subsequently, the format became extremely popular, and the number of random video chats has grown tenfold. Among the most famous sites today are Chatrandom, EmeraldChat, Chatspin, Bazoocam and coomeet.com/chatrandom.

Random video chat has several important advantages over dating sites:

1. Quick registration or even the ability to use the platform without registration.
   
2. Convenient search filters for finding other users and unlimited skips (switching).
   
3. Live video communication — as close as possible to a conversation in real life.
   

By chatting with a person in a random chat, you can learn much more about their interests, values, hobbies, way of speaking, and so on. And believe us, if they really care about nature rather than just claiming to, you will discover this very quickly.

Expand your dating site choices

We’re convinced that every format of dating and communication on the Internet has the right to exist. And we always say that a large selection of dating platforms is a plus. But it’s important to  understand that they are all very different, and so the audience for them can also be very different. Depending on your personal preferences, interests and goals, you should choose the most suitable sites for you.

Do not limit yourself to only themed sites and applications — try to expand your circle of potential acquaintances. You’ll be surprised how many interesting people you can meet on the web if you change the format of your searches a little. We hope you’ll find only pleasant meetings on the Internet and complete happiness!

We Founder Circle Leads Seed Round Worth $100K in Glii, a New Age Dating and Companionship App

We Founder Circle (WFC) – a founder-backing-founder based early-stage startup investor has led SEED round worth USD 100K in Glii, a new age dating and companionship app launched with the aim of not only solving huge stigma and taboo problems, but also improving, rather changing, many lives for the betterment. Glii represents a Modern LGBTQ+ lifestyle and is not just any other Dating App. Glii is also enabled with Artificial Intelligence to ensure Safety , additionally to keep one engaged on the app and get much better results, and also creating safe dining dating friendly spots for serious daters.

Mr. Neeraj Tyagi- CEO & CO-Founder, We Founder Circle commented, “ In the current modern world, it is imperative that we strenuously work towards evolving social norms, and stay in sync with the changing lifestyle requirements. As an investor, I feel that if somebody is making an effort to break the stigmas and do a larger good to the society, then he must get undeterred support. Glii is one such model which will patch the existing gaps in the entire concept of finding companionship online. It is a refined version of the online dating platforms, and serves everyone that is on a lookout for their companion. In short, it is not restricted to anyone."

Glii Team

"Something which started as a research project in college time is now going to change many lives. It is a dream come true for the entire team Glii. With this fresh fund infusion, now we can develop a strong second layer of tech in Glii. This fund is going to act like a fuel to the fire, and we are excited yet committed like never before," said Mr. Shivam Kaushik, founder, Glii.

Bhawna Bhatnagar co-founder at We Founder Circle, "The current Indian dating market lacks an app built for the Indian consumer. Glii is a very special startup. It fills that gap with its unique approach of merging dating and hospitality along with its strong focus on inclusivity."

The startup plans to exhaust funds in enhancing the product, and hence one of the bigger chunks will go in upgrading the technology backbone including the overall look and feel of the app, and additionally building the tech team. Another part of raised funds will be utilized on the brand building.

“Glii has successfully attempted to make a pioneer ecosystem for the LGBTQ+ community in India. From a serious dating platform to safe and secure hospitality, the startup has normalised inclusive online dating. We think this space will gather increasing value in the years to come especially as policy makers are keen that people belonging to the LGBTQ community are afforded equal rights,” said Monica Gupta, Advisor at Glii.

The brand currently has 35K+ downloads on Playstore, and plans to touch a mark of 1,00,000 in next 6 months.

About WFC

Established in 2020 in Mumbai, We Founder Circle is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels that have come together to push the startup industry and steer it towards aggressive growth. It invests USD 50K- USD 150 K amount in early-stage startups that are fueled with ambition, sustainability, and strategic approach. WFC provides seed funding, business development, and global networking opportunities to startups as it believes early-stage startups need a lot beyond just financial support to become scalable and stable. It has already enabled USD 12 mn worth of investments across 33 startup deals in the year 2021 alone.

China Tech Firm to Sell Gay Dating App Grindr for $608 Million

One of China's biggest mobile gaming company is selling popular gay dating app Grindr for USD 608 million after pressure from US authorities concerned over the potential misuse of user data.

National security officials in Washington fear the platform -- which bills itself as the world's largest social networking space for LGBT people -- could be used by the Chinese government to blackmail Americans with government security clearances, according to media reports last year.

Beijing Kunlun Tech took a majority stake in the app in 2016 and bought the remaining equity two years later for a combined USD 245 million, but was reportedly ordered to relinquish the platform by US officials last year.

It will sell a 98.59 per cent stake in Grindr to San Vicente Acquisition, a holding company based in the US state of Delaware, according to a company filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday.

The deal is awaiting approval from a US committee authorised to review transactions involving foreign investments, the filing said.

Grindr has faced other accusations of improperly managing the data under Beijing Kunlun's ownership.

The platform violated European Union privacy regulations by sharing the GPS data, age and gender of its users with third-party companies to help target advertisements, according to a report by a Norwegian consumer rights group. (AFP)

Tinder Rival 'Bumble' App Launches in India with Hindi Language Option

Bumble, a location-based and female-first social and dating app, has been launched in India on Thursday by its founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and celebrity actor Priyanka Chopra, who is Bumble India's investor as well as brand ambassador of Bumble's India campaign.

The app is now available in India and interestingly have Hindi language option too.

The launch was done lavishingly with a private dinner party at Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, hosted by Whitney Wolfe and Priyanka together, reported the Quint.

Priyanka Chopra and Whitney Wolfe Herd in a self-hosted private dinner party. (Image -: Instagram)

Touted as "Feminist App", Bumble is dedicated to empowering women and ending misogyny around the globe, the social network by women, for everyone, boasts of three different modes (Bumble Bizz, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Date) for professional networking, friend-finding, and dating.

Users can sign up using Facebook, and have options of searching for romantic matches. Bumble Bizz facilitates business communications; Bumble BFF allows users to form platonic friendship connections; Bumble Bizz on other hand allows to swipe for mentorship, networking, and career-building.

"The unique model of putting women in charge and employing robust reporting has allowed Bumble to achieve incomparably low reports of harassment and abuse. Bumble is a safe platform for people to connect in dating, friendship, and networking. Things change when women are in control," said the Bumble website.

Bumble was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd shortly after she left Tinder, a dating app she co-founded and has now in legal lawsuit with Bumble .

In the lawsuits, Match, the parent firm of Tinder, alleges that Bumble stole Tinder's intellectual property. Bumble however says those claims are bogus, designed to drive down Bumble's worth and "poison Bumble in the investment market".

Bumble, which has been publicly hailed as a "feminist Tinder, is being valued at more than $1 billion, according to Forbes.

In India, Bumble will compete with local dating apps namely Woo, OkCupid, Hinge and TrulyMadly besides having head on with Tinder of course.

Bumble had a reported 22 million users as of November 2017, and 27 million downloads as of February 2018.

[Top Featured Image - Bumble Team | Image Credit - Daniel Cavazos/ Tribeza]

Priyanka Chopra Invests in Tech Startups Including A Dating App of Tinder Co-founder Whitney Wolfe

Indian actress popular in both Hollywood & Bollywood, Priyanka Chopra, is now a tech investor too joining the likes of Hollywood's Ashton Kutcher and Bollywood's Sushant Singh Rajput, who are also tech startups investors apart from pursuing their acting career.

According to reports, Priyanka has invested in a San Francisco-based coding education startup called Holberton School, which is a project-based alternative to college for the next generation of software engineers. Founded by Holberton is backed by Trinity Ventures, a California-based early stage venture capital firm as well as by Omidyar Network.

The other investment of Priyanka is Bumble, a dating and social media app, which was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who is a co-founder of popular dating app Tinder. Bumble will be launched in India by Priyanka herself in coming months.

A new chapter for me! I am so excited to partner with @bumble and @holbertonschool as an investor. I’m honored to join two companies that strive to expand gender diversity in the tech space, and make a social impact for the greater good... let’s do this!! pic.twitter.com/xBdC13XE0n

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) October 4, 2018

Besides Bumble's founder herself, Priyanka was one of the high-profile women who had helped Bumble to kickstart its networking app, Bumble Bizz, in October 2017.

Wolfe Herd said the challenge in entering the Indian market is "localizing the experience and attracting women" -- an area in which Chopra will help, reported CNN.

[caption id="attachment_126534" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd [Image - HarpersBazaar.com][/caption]

Bumble has taken on Priyanka Chopra not just an investor but advisor too, and with her help the the company plans to enter the Indian market this year.

Interestingly, Priyanka's manager, Anjula Acharia, is also an investor and adviser to Bumble.

Bumble created versions of its app in Hindi and "Hinglish", adapted its marketing to suit the Indian market, and adjusted its user interface and matching algorithm for India’s levels of network connectivity. Tinder, for comparison, offers its app in four languages in India.

The app, Herd told CNN, will need Indian women to only fill in the first initial of their name and not their full names. The dating app will also ensure ways to report “bad behavior”.

Notably, Bumble founder & CEO Wolfe Herd was named one of Business Insider's 30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech in 2014.

Wolfe Herd had left Tinder in 2014 largely due to growing tensions with other company executives. She even filed a lawsuit against Tinder for sexual harassment andreportedly received a more than $1 million settlement in addition to stock in the company.

With these two investments, Priyanka has joined the league of bollywood celebrities running/backing tech ventures including Anil Kapoor (Indi.com), Farhan Akhtar (Flickbay), Kunal Kapoor (Ketto.org), and Sushant Singh Rajput.

In May this year, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput had too announced the launch of Innsaei Ventures, a tech venture startup which will look to bring socio-economic and developmental transformation through intellectual property powered by emerging technologies.

Priyanka Chopra Invests in Tech Startups Including A Dating App of Tinder Co-founder Whitney Wolfe

Indian actress popular in both Hollywood & Bollywood, Priyanka Chopra, is now a tech investor too joining the likes of Hollywood's Ashton Kutcher and Bollywood's Sushant Singh Rajput, who are also tech startups investors apart from pursuing their acting career.

According to reports, Priyanka has invested in a San Francisco-based coding education startup called Holberton School, which is a project-based alternative to college for the next generation of software engineers. Founded by Holberton is backed by Trinity Ventures, a California-based early stage venture capital firm as well as by Omidyar Network.

The other investment of Priyanka is Bumble, a dating and social media app, which was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who is a co-founder of popular dating app Tinder. Bumble will be launched in India by Priyanka herself in coming months.

A new chapter for me! I am so excited to partner with @bumble and @holbertonschool as an investor. I’m honored to join two companies that strive to expand gender diversity in the tech space, and make a social impact for the greater good... let’s do this!! pic.twitter.com/xBdC13XE0n

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) October 4, 2018

Besides Bumble's founder herself, Priyanka was one of the high-profile women who had helped Bumble to kickstart its networking app, Bumble Bizz, in October 2017.

Wolfe Herd said the challenge in entering the Indian market is "localizing the experience and attracting women" -- an area in which Chopra will help, reported CNN.

[caption id="attachment_126534" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd [Image - HarpersBazaar.com][/caption]

Bumble has taken on Priyanka Chopra not just an investor but advisor too, and with her help the the company plans to enter the Indian market this year.

Interestingly, Priyanka's manager, Anjula Acharia, is also an investor and adviser to Bumble.

Bumble created versions of its app in Hindi and "Hinglish", adapted its marketing to suit the Indian market, and adjusted its user interface and matching algorithm for India’s levels of network connectivity. Tinder, for comparison, offers its app in four languages in India.

The app, Herd told CNN, will need Indian women to only fill in the first initial of their name and not their full names. The dating app will also ensure ways to report “bad behavior”.

Notably, Bumble founder & CEO Wolfe Herd was named one of Business Insider's 30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech in 2014.

Wolfe Herd had left Tinder in 2014 largely due to growing tensions with other company executives. She even filed a lawsuit against Tinder for sexual harassment andreportedly received a more than $1 million settlement in addition to stock in the company.

With these two investments, Priyanka has joined the league of bollywood celebrities running/backing tech ventures including Anil Kapoor (Indi.com), Farhan Akhtar (Flickbay), Kunal Kapoor (Ketto.org), and Sushant Singh Rajput.

In May this year, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput had too announced the launch of Innsaei Ventures, a tech venture startup which will look to bring socio-economic and developmental transformation through intellectual property powered by emerging technologies.

Speed-dating App NearGroup Raises $1.6 million In Seed Funding; Plans To Expand Its User Base In India

Speed-dating app NearGroup, which has millions of users in Philippines, India and Vietnam, has raised a whopping $1.6 million in a seed funding round led by Helsinki-headquartered venture capital firm Open Ocean, backer of startups such as Truecaller and EyeEm. The round also saw participation from other firms including Neotribe and BoostVC.

Starting its journey as a bot-based neighbourhood connect service that worked on FB Messenger, the firm changed its focus to being an online speed dating service in February this year.

Speaking to Economic Times at that time, Prashant Pitti, founder of Neargroup, discussed the reason for the big shift and revealed when he witnessed that the chat-based dating feature was becoming hugely popular, he decided to make the big move.

After witnessing a good traction in users from the US, Philippines and Vietnam, NearGroup now plans to focus its significant attention on building its reputation in the Indian market. The firm, which currently has about 34 lakh users, claims that it is seeing about 5 to 6 lakh new users coming on the platform every month.

In order to gain a major portion of the Indian dating market, the firm has launched a new feature.

"There is a social stigma which comes upon using a dating app and women do not wish to have an open dating profile which both their friends and relatives can see, so when a guy makes his profile on NearGroup messenger, his interests and thoughts can be viewed by women for them to send a chat request to, but the woman's profile details can't be viewed by guys, it is sort of a swayamvar for women," Prashant Pitti, CEO of NearGroup told ET.

In addition to this new feature, Neargroup has also got an India-specific marketing team onboard. It plans on increasing the team size as its Indian user base grows. The firm claims that it has already tested out this India specific feature among 15,000 users and have witnessed an increase in usage.

Lahari Music Aims To Diversify Business; Invests In Two Startups

The family office of Lahari Music invested an undisclosed amount in two startups. With this move, Lahari Music, who are known as one of the South India’s record labels aims to diversify their businesses beyond music. Stakes acquired by the company are undisclosed. CreedCap Asia Advisors, a Boutique investment banking firm was the adviser for this transactions.

A Paris-based global dating application, Happn and a fintech platform for home buyers and developers, WhatsLoan bagged the investment. Co- founder of DCTex Furnishings, a home furnishings company, Nimish Arora also participated in the Happn deal.

Commenting on the development, Chandru Kumar, Director, Lahari Music said “We have been in the music industry for a very long time and we realised we need to branch out, not just stick to music."

As per a media report, Company will aim for an equity stake of 26% or more in startups where it invests. For Lahari, two more investments are in the pipeline this year. If sources to be believed, one in an Indian company that makes electric chargers for cars and the other in a media company.

The family office usually invests between $500,000 and $10 million across a wide array of sectors, including consumer and media.

Co-founded by Didier Rappaport in Paris in 2014, Happn has presence in 40 major cities, including London, New York, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Sydney and Moscow. Talking about the its competitors in India, Startup compete with TwoMangoes, Woo and TrulyMadly. Happn connects people based on their real-life experiences and this is what differentiate it from its competitors.

Owned by Bengaluru-based Home Equity India, WhatsLoan is a loan-as-a-service platform which was founded in 2016 by former Axis Bank mortgage group head Timmana Gouda D and Vidya TG.

The company plans to use freshly infused funds towards building its technology platform.

Online Dating Startup TrulyMadly Raises Rs.35 Cr Via Helion Venture & Kae Capital

Delhi-based online dating and matchmaking app TrulyMadly has raised Rs. 35 crore in their first round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital. TrulyMadly has been started by several serial entrepreneur, including Sachin Bhatia, who had also co-founded MakeMyTrip.

TrulyMadly is an app which serves a platform that brings singles together based on common interests and psychological matching.

The TrulyMadly app was launched in August 2014, and so far has seen over 200,000 downloads, and claims to have about 65,000 monthly active users mostly from India and south-east Asia. Of those, 35 percent are women.

Other than Sachin Bhatia, co-founder MkaaeMyTrip, the other co-founder is Hitesh Dhingra, who co-founded his earlier venture Letsbuy.com which was sold to Flipkart in 2012 for reported $25 million. The third co-founder in the company is Rahul Kumar, who has earlier been associated with Expedia, Oracle, and MakeMyTrip.

Sachin Bhatia, CEO and Co-Founder, TrulyMadly said, "since we are building a social network of sorts, the brand needs to grow virally and therefore we will be investing in developing original, sharable content. We will also be investing heavily in bolstering our product and tech team. We plan to grow to five million users by next year and sustain our leadership position in the dating and match-making space."

Online dating is finally finding mainstream acceptance in India. Last month, matrimonial portal Shaadi.com owner People Group has acquired about 25% stake in dating applications maker Thrill in a cash and stock deal valued at close to $1 million (about Rs 6 crore 13 lakhs).

Shaadi.com Bought About 25% Stake In Dating App Thrill In A Close To $1 Million Deal

Matrimonial portal Shaadi.com owner People Group has acquired about 25% stake in dating applications maker Thrill in a cash and stock deal valued at close to $1 million (about Rs 6 crore 13 lakhs). With this Mumbai-based people group has merged its dating platform Fropper with with Delhi-based Thrill Applications.

"We have combined our dating business Fropper with Thrill, making it the largest entity in the online dating space in India from users and revenue perspective," said Anupam Mittal, founder and chief executive of People Group.

Founded in 2012 by Americans Devin Serago and Josh Israel, who later relocated to Delhi to start the company Thrill which is a dating app available for iOS & Android users. Thrill, which claims to have had over 1,00,000 downloads of its app in India, will now get over six million members from Fropper.

"Fropper generates cash of over Rs 1.5 crore a year which we will plough back into growing both platforms," said Josh Israel, 28, a US-born Indian who moved to Delhi three years ago.

With the stake acquisition, Shaadi plans to reduce the product development life cycle for Thrill.

Thrill, which is solely focused on the Indian market, competes with other dating apps like Tinder and Krush. What makes Thrill different is that it is controlled by women. While men can apply to join, they can only begin using the app if the women on the network approve.

In May 2013, Thrill has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Samir Bangara, a former managing director (digital) at the Walt Disney Company in India and currently the CEO of Qyuki.com, and Rajesh Kamat, CA Media’s Indian operations head, as well as from a couple of unnamed Singapore-based investors.