Find your online love during lockdown
Dating apps in India like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge have seen a surge in downloads during the lockdown period.
Startups like Floh and Sirf-Coffee(dating apps) have seen a 20% increase in new users during lockdown, mostly professional people such as bankers, engineers, and entrepreneurs looking to find stable and long-term relationships.
Stuck at home because of the Coronavirus and can’t have coffee dates with your partner? Well, that’s not a problem anymore because now you can do all that virtually, as local offline-only matchmaking and dating apps promise to take their wares online.
Startups like Floh and Sirf-Coffee differentiate themselves from online dating apps like Tinder and Bumble by focusing on interest-based offline events and meetings, virtual poetry and cookery sessions, speed dates online, Zoom events on hooking up with the right partner, etc. in the time of lockdown. The age group of these people is more than 25 and do not have many demands, are even ready to pay Rs.1,500- Rs50,000 for personal meetings and fun group activities.
Naina Hiranandani, cofounder of SirfCoffee says, “In light of the Covid-19 virus outbreak, we have temporarily paused in-person dates... for nearly 50 days, Sirf Coffee has set up over 200 personalized virtual iso-dates in the comfort of our members' homes”. She adds “Clients have really eased up their criteria (relaxing on age, geography and other partner preferences), as this period has given them the time to reflect, introspect and figure out the path forward,”
According to the 2018 Census, 2001 data on the marital status of persons show that out of over a billion population of the country, 513 million (49.8%) have reported ad ‘Never married’, mainly due to the high proportion of young people.
Siddharth Mangharam, founder of Floh says, “We have spoken with over 100,000 singles to understand how urban singles in India can be successful at their relationships. We now host weekly Zoom events on various relationships topics”. These vary from finding the right person, dealing with rejection, essential relationship ingredients, and more, he adds.
Able Joseph, co-founder of Aisle Bengaluru-based Aisle says, “We host online group activities through video conferencing app Zoom. “These activities include games like Pictionary. We will be charging Rs 799 from users to join these groups”. After the activity, users connect with other members and are permitted to have a 90-second video chat session with the selected dating partners, before proceeding with the virtual date.
“Given that they are experiencing high levels of stress or grief due to work uncertainty, health issues, one may think that dating is last on their minds. On the contrary…this pandemic, a circumstance that we have no control over whatsoever, has amplified the universal need for companionship,” says Naina Hiranandani.
In these vulnerable situations, we are becoming more possessive and are finding a person to support us. Apart from this, this can be a startup opportunity for the people looking for a new startup. Just do your research and see where these winds take you.
