Online dating startup TrulyMadly raises Rs. 35 cr; plans to strengthen tech team

New Delhi:  TrulyMadly, an Indian-origin online dating and matchmaking app with over 200,000 installs has raised Rs. 35 crore in their first round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital, sending a clear signal that online dating is finally finding mainstream acceptance in India. Co-founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra and Rahul Kumar, TrulyMadly launched its app in August 2014. 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.”[caption id=“attachment_2131045” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Screen grab[/caption] The TrulyMadly mobile app lets singles discover each other through shared interests and personality profiles. The app is registering 100 percent month on month (MoM) growth in downloads, with women users making up over 35 percent of all app downloaders, says Bhatia. With experienced investors like like Helion and Kae on board, the site will be able to scale and grow rapidly, he added. “We have been the first to promote safe online dating through 100 percent verified profiles. As a result, women users tend to prefer TrulyMadly over all other apps; making up as much as 35 percent of our user base. Also, the incredible growth in TrulyMadly’s adoption indicates that online dating is today as acceptable to people as is exchanging mobile messages with friends,” Sachin added. Ritesh Banglani from Helion Venture Partners said, “When we saw the engagement metrics that the team has managed month on month, we were convinced they were on to something big and that we had to be part of this story.”   TrulyMadly ‘s app allocates a ‘Trust Score’ to each new user; a higher Trust Score increases the number of potential matches for a user. Users can boost their Trust Score by getting their phone number and photo ID verified. All users need at least 30 percent Trust Score to use the app.