Funding: who is raising, and on what terms.
Rounds, investors, and the terms behind them in a category most generalist funds still avoid.
Funding coverage tracks rounds raised by dating and social discovery companies, who wrote the cheque, and what the round implies about the business. Dating raises are rare and specific, so terms matter as much as size.
What we watch on this beat
- 01Whether the lead has any dating exposure already
- 02Structure such as liquidation preference and tranching
- 03Whether the raise funds product or just paid acquisition
Where this connects
Latest in Funding
4 stories
Tolan Raises $30 Million as Character.AI Sells Itself in BankruptcyAI companion Tolan raised $30 million led by Union Square Ventures, while Character.AI, in Chapter 11, lined up Disney as a $20 million stalking-horse bidder and saw most of its staff offered Disney jobs.
Clockout Raises $3.5 Million to Get Professionals Meeting in PersonNetworking app Clockout has raised $3.5 million led by 114 Ventures and reports $1.1 million in annual recurring revenue.
Ex-Tinder Executive's Rivet Raises $10.5 Million to Put People Back in MatchmakingFormer Tinder executive Taru Kapoor launched Rivet across the U.S. with a $10.5 million seed round and a crowd-sourced matching model.
Game of War's Co-Founder Backs an Anti-Screen-Time Dating AppMike Sherrill, co-founder of Machine Zone and architect of Game of War ($2.8B in revenue before AppLovin acquired the company), has invested an undisclosed sum in SPARK, a Singapore dating startup bui…
Questions operators ask
Generalist funds have been burned by acquisition costs and by winner take most dynamics. Most will not underwrite paid acquisition as a growth plan, so raises land with specialist investors, strategics, or operators who know the category.
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