TrulyMadly Raises $2.1Mn In Pre-Series A Funding Round The platform will use the capital for developing new product offerings, expanding to new geographies, and further enhancing machine learning matchmaking algorithms

Dating app TrulyMadly announced on Tuesday to have raised $2.1million in a pre-Series A funding round. 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 chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma, InMobi co-founders Abhay Singhal and Piyush Shah, Nodwin Gaming founder Akshat Rathee and Dr. Vaidya's founder and CEO Arjun Vaidya also joined the round.

TrulyMadly will be deploying the fresh capital to build new product offerings, expanding 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 strong growth is backed by our mission of removing stigma associated with dating and dating apps in India. The fourfold 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 the 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," said Snehil Khanor, CEO and co-founder, TrulyMadly.

The fund raise follows an overall revenue growth by fourfold and a tenfold growth noted from many tier-II and III cities like Bhubaneswar, Gwalior, Kanpur, Patna, Rajkot, Varanasi, Vijayawada among others. The platform has over 85 lakh users.

"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 caliber. We wish them continued success," mentioned Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, and managing director, 9Unicorns.

TrulyMadly has been said to have built its proprietary compatibility assessment tool with guidance from leading Indian psychologists. TrulyMadly rejects 42 per cent of the profiles that apply to become a member of its curated community of singles in the moderation stage. Further, every profile on TrulyMadly has a "Trust Score' indicating the level of verifications the profile has gone through. The Dating App has also developed an ML-based gatekeeper algorithm called "ChowkAIdaar' to pre-emptively block out "bad actors' on the platform to deliver a safe space and great user experience.

"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," stated Mitesh Shah, co-founder, Inflection Point Ventures.

The dating platform claims to have seen a surge from young millennials who are forced to cut down on in-person social interactions following frequent lockdowns due to COVID-19.

"TrulyMadly has found its niche market fit as a product. The traction is 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-II and III 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," added Kayar Raghavan, lead angel, The Chennai Angels.

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