Indian matchmaking app backed by ex-Google exec bags $3m in pre-series A round

India-based matchmaking app Betterhalf.ai announced it has raised US$3 million in its pre-series A round from venture capital firms including S2 Capital and Quiet Capital.

Founders of Betterhalf.ai: Rahul Namdev (Left) and Pawan Gupta / Photo credit: Betterhalf.ai

Investors including Cred founder Kunal Shah and Samvit Ramadurgam, founding partner at S2 Capital, also participated in the funding round.

The fresh funds will be used to boost the company’s app engagement and build monetization features. The firm will also use the funds for product discovery across organic channels.

Founded in 2016, Betterhalf.ai has a pool of working professionals from over 25,000 companies in India on its platform. It focuses on behavioral matching criteria including compatibility matching with likes, dislikes, and interests to match different people on its platform.

“Matchmaking is very broken, and users have to waste a lot of time and effort on matrimony apps,” said Saurabh Garg, founder of Nobroker and an investor in the Betterhalf.ai. “Betterhalf’s strategy to connect the brides and grooms without parents’ intervention is what makes it super powerful and differentiated.”

Currently, the company claims it has facilitated over a million matches and a thousand marriages across a user base of 700,000 urban millennials. The company also said it has posted US$75,000 in monthly revenue and is growing at 30% every month.

According to the firm, the new funding round will lift its revenue run rate to US$5 million from its previous US$1 million. It expects that this will help it raise its series A round of funding. Betterhalf.ai also expects to hit 1 million registered users by the end of 2021.

In October 2018, the dating platform raised seed funding of US$500,000 from angel investors including former Google India’s managing director Shailesh Rao and Flipkart’s former investment director Vinay Subramanian.