Moving from US to India to research their mobile dating application, entrepreneurs Josh Israel and Devin Serago made some surprising revelations about how women are 'wooed' online here. "I signed up as a woman on dating services and saw that guys harass women with incessant messages," says Israel, who is of Indian-origin.
Men with fake profiles and guys who sign up as girls to talk to other girls were also discoveries, but most baffling was what they encountered after debuting their app, called Thrill, this July. Older men, signing up using real Facebook profiles with photos of wives and kids, were indignant at being screened out. "When asked why they want to be on a singles' app when they are already married, they'd say, 'Wife-swap !'" Israel claims, laughing.
Israel and Serago may be the first to decode the mobile dating space in India, where an increasing number of smartphone-wielding youngsters aged 18-25 are searching for friendship and love across Android, iPhone/iPad, Blackberry and Windows platforms, but they aren't the only entrepreneurs 'thrilled' by this growing market. The people at Tinder, the world's hottest dating app described by co-founder and CMO Justin Mateen as a "cool new way to meet new people," are excited about their India numbers. "We're growing 3-4 % day on day," Mateen says of the site which globally makes two million matches per da.
Grindr, an app for gay men, has over 11,000 plus monthly users in India. "In conservative regions where being gay may be taboo, Grindr allows for connections that wouldn't happen face-to-face so it's not surprising that it is popular in India," says a Grindr spokesperson.
SinglesAroundMe (SAM), another US-based app, claims they have 66,000 Indian subscribers. "India is third after the US and UK and represents only 5% of our user base presently, but the number is growing very quickly," says CEO Christopher Klotz.
Numbers aside, the cultural shift in society was encouraging for Thrill creators, who believe Indians are adapting quickly to influences from the West. Malini Agarwal, blogger and founder of social group Friday Club, says youngsters today aren't looking for marriage. "Indians are a lot more comfortable with the idea of dating. But there is also the feeling that you have to be extra careful, especially when you hear horror stories of rape and attacks," she says.
Thrill's 'he applies she decides' approach enables women to choose the men they want in. "We guarantee guys won't harass them," says Israel, who along with Serago currently vets the male applicants. App matches are based on physical attraction and common interests. On Tinder, for instance, you "swipe rate" people based on their attractiveness, which Mateen calls an accurate reflection of human interaction. "When you walk into a coffee shop, the first thing you do is look for physical attributes that attract you or not, and after that you engage in conversation," he says.
The way dating apps work is simple -- users chat with matches, become Facebook friends, exchange phone numbers and then meet. "It's step-by-step so when you meet you are not really strangers," says Serago. Geography is never a deterrent to pursuing a real life relationship as the apps locator technology only matches users with people in their vicinity, without revealing the users exact locations. Thrill, however, won't be enabling their locator technology at the moment . "It's a turn-off for women who are already a little fearful," says Israel.
Thrill, available in Delhi and Mumbai now with a 1,000 user base, is customizing other features for India users, debating whether match information should include job, education , income and horoscope, to comply with their female users' requests. Tinder is planning its India launch a few months down.
They're all clearly upbeat, but more experienced players are advising caution. "It's a challenging business," says Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com, a leading portal in India's Rs 510-crore online matrimony market. For starters , the ratio of men to women online is skewed towards men. "Also culturally, we're not a society of daters. We introduce boyfriends as friends, preferring to dance around the issue," Mittal says.
Israel agrees that mobile dating needs more time. "But everyone said that when Match.com came out in the US in 1995, now they are a $500 million company. I think that is going to happen in India and what we're trying to do is get in on the ground floor," he says.
Men with fake profiles and guys who sign up as girls to talk to other girls were also discoveries, but most baffling was what they encountered after debuting their app, called Thrill, this July. Older men, signing up using real Facebook profiles with photos of wives and kids, were indignant at being screened out. "When asked why they want to be on a singles' app when they are already married, they'd say, 'Wife-swap !'" Israel claims, laughing.
Israel and Serago may be the first to decode the mobile dating space in India, where an increasing number of smartphone-wielding youngsters aged 18-25 are searching for friendship and love across Android, iPhone/iPad, Blackberry and Windows platforms, but they aren't the only entrepreneurs 'thrilled' by this growing market. The people at Tinder, the world's hottest dating app described by co-founder and CMO Justin Mateen as a "cool new way to meet new people," are excited about their India numbers. "We're growing 3-4 % day on day," Mateen says of the site which globally makes two million matches per da.
Grindr, an app for gay men, has over 11,000 plus monthly users in India. "In conservative regions where being gay may be taboo, Grindr allows for connections that wouldn't happen face-to-face so it's not surprising that it is popular in India," says a Grindr spokesperson.
SinglesAroundMe (SAM), another US-based app, claims they have 66,000 Indian subscribers. "India is third after the US and UK and represents only 5% of our user base presently, but the number is growing very quickly," says CEO Christopher Klotz.
Numbers aside, the cultural shift in society was encouraging for Thrill creators, who believe Indians are adapting quickly to influences from the West. Malini Agarwal, blogger and founder of social group Friday Club, says youngsters today aren't looking for marriage. "Indians are a lot more comfortable with the idea of dating. But there is also the feeling that you have to be extra careful, especially when you hear horror stories of rape and attacks," she says.
Thrill's 'he applies she decides' approach enables women to choose the men they want in. "We guarantee guys won't harass them," says Israel, who along with Serago currently vets the male applicants. App matches are based on physical attraction and common interests. On Tinder, for instance, you "swipe rate" people based on their attractiveness, which Mateen calls an accurate reflection of human interaction. "When you walk into a coffee shop, the first thing you do is look for physical attributes that attract you or not, and after that you engage in conversation," he says.
The way dating apps work is simple -- users chat with matches, become Facebook friends, exchange phone numbers and then meet. "It's step-by-step so when you meet you are not really strangers," says Serago. Geography is never a deterrent to pursuing a real life relationship as the apps locator technology only matches users with people in their vicinity, without revealing the users exact locations. Thrill, however, won't be enabling their locator technology at the moment . "It's a turn-off for women who are already a little fearful," says Israel.
Thrill, available in Delhi and Mumbai now with a 1,000 user base, is customizing other features for India users, debating whether match information should include job, education , income and horoscope, to comply with their female users' requests. Tinder is planning its India launch a few months down.
They're all clearly upbeat, but more experienced players are advising caution. "It's a challenging business," says Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com, a leading portal in India's Rs 510-crore online matrimony market. For starters , the ratio of men to women online is skewed towards men. "Also culturally, we're not a society of daters. We introduce boyfriends as friends, preferring to dance around the issue," Mittal says.
Israel agrees that mobile dating needs more time. "But everyone said that when Match.com came out in the US in 1995, now they are a $500 million company. I think that is going to happen in India and what we're trying to do is get in on the ground floor," he says.
