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Dating app TrulyMadly has raised Rs 16 crore ($2.1 million) in pre-Series A fund. The round saw participation from Venture Catalysts, 9 Unicorns, early stage investor advisor Jana K Balan, Neil Bahal from Negen Capital, angel investor Ruchi Sihare, and existing investors Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels and AngelList.  

Paytm Founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, InMobi Co-founders Abhay Singhal and Piyush Shah, Nodwin Gaming Founder, Akshat Rathee, and Dr. Vaidya’s Founder & CEO, Arjun Vaidya also joined the round. 

TrulyMadly will be using the new fund to build new product offerings, expand to new geographies, and boost its technology by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered platform features and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to empower millennials in exploring serious relationships in an increasingly digital world. 

The fundraise follows an overall revenue growth by 4X and a 10X growth noted from many Tier II and III cities like Bhubaneswar, Gwalior, Kanpur, Patna, Rajkot, Varanasi, and Vijayawada among others. The platform has over 85 lakh users. 

Last year, the company raised Rs 8.1 crore ($1.1 million) from Inflection Point Ventures, The Chennai Angels and AngelList, along with some prolific angels and startup founders including Aakrit Vaish, Dr. Ritesh Malik, Gaurav Munjal, and Miten Sampat among others.

TrulyMadly CEO and Co-founder, Snehil Khanor said, “The strong growth is backed by our mission of removing stigma associated with dating and dating apps in India. The 4X growth in revenue over last year is reflective of the value our proprietary technology has brought to young millennials with serious intent towards relationships.”

Our next stage of growth will be led by further developing our technology platform to enhance experience and increase our reach in Tier II and III cities. We are thankful to our investors for believing in us. We are beyond excited to add some great names in our captable in this round. In the next six months, we are slated to launch some amazing new product features catered specifically to the Indian way of dating, he added.

9Unicorns Co-founder and MD, Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma said, “Going beyond the hook-up culture that dating apps are known for, TrulyMadly goes a step further by addressing a niche need-gap: connecting the youth who seek to engage in serious relationships before getting ready for marriage. To achieve this, the brand leverages a psychometric tool built with the help of top psychologists and psychometricians in India to accurately assess the compatibility between two profiles based on dimensions as diverse as family values, trust, intimacy, and intellect. This unique value proposition has struck a chord with its target audience which is already 8.5 million strong and growing. We are delighted to associate with a high potential brand led by a founding team of great calibre. We wish them continued success.”

Inflection Point Ventures Co-founder, Mitesh Shah said, “We have always believed in TrulyMadly’s vision of building a robust technology platform that brings value to their community of users. They have moved the needle remarkably in shifting the mindset of Indian millennials towards dating through an intuitive and engaging platform.”

The Chennai Angels Lead, Angel Kayar Raghavan said, “TrulyMadly has found its niche market fit as a product. The traction seen in the last twelve months and the increasing brand recognition have proven that the product strategy being executed by the team is a hit particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The team deserves all kudos for their diligence and singular attention in bringing to market in double quick time product features that TrulyMadly’s target demographics loves. The Chennai Angels is delighted naturally to follow on in this growth round expressing its vote of confidence in TrulyMadly and the excellent work the team is doing.”