Walk Through the Article
Introduction
Coffee Meets Bagel is a dating and social networking website. In a nutshell, this is different from other dating sites because of the system present within it which helps users filter out all the creepy people. This service has had a theme called #LadiesChoice in the past because it puts women first in the service. Most recently on May 4, 2018, the company raised $6.7 million in Series B funding.
How It Works
Three sisters named Arum, Dawoon, and Soo Kang came up with this idea after they saw the problems that other similar dating sites had. The problem with an app like Tinder is the fact that many of these users may be fake or some might ghost people when they plan to meet. According to the time that we spent for what we are looking for, users go on to waste a significant portion of the time because of a lack of practicality in finding authentic relationships. This is where Coffee Meets Bagel with its unique concept comes into play.
The algorithm has been set up in a way through which users can connect with their Facebook friends of friends. Their idea is research proven as it has been observed that it is 37 percent more likely to want to connect with them than with absolutely random people. Just for example, let’s say you have 300 friends. If all of these have 300 friends, you have a chance of connecting with 90,000 people. Obviously not all of these people are going to be meant for relationships, but the point is pretty clear.
The company has reported that they have globally generated more than one million dates and thousands of lasting relationships. After signing in through Facebook, CMB will match you with one person every day at noon. As mentioned, this person is a mutual friend. You have two simple options: like or pass. If you pass, it’s over. That person is gone, and tomorrow is a new day.
However, if you seem to like a person and that person likes you back, you and your new love interest will be immediately connected through a text message sent from a private company phone line. Hence, a date gets set up through this system.
Coffee Meets Bagel Net Worth
The company has raised money five times. It started with an initial $600,000 investment, also called Seed Round Investment. Their next one was a $2.8 million funding on their Venture Round on September 26, 2012. They then got a Series A funding of $7.8 million on February 18, 2015. Their latest one has been a Series B funding raising a total of $6.7 million on May 4, 2018.
Some of the firms that have invested money in the company include Atami Capital, Lightbank, Azure Capital Partners, Quick Venture Partners, and DCM Ventures among others. There are also five board members, namely; Paul Lee, Andrew Chen, Michael Deerkoski, Ali Wasti, and, Bill Pescatello.
Though the exact stake of different firms is not available, it is estimated that the company is currently valued at $600 million.
Appearance on Shark Tank
Mark Cuban, one of the investors in the popular reality show called “Shark Tanks” where aspiring entrepreneurs can get an investment, actually made a huge $30 million offer for the entire company, which at the time was the biggest ever offer made. The sisters were more interested in getting their initial offer, which was $500,000 in exchange for a 5% stake in the company.
However, the sisters were so confident about the future of the product and rejected it immediately. One of the sisters mentioned that Match, a similar dating site does $800 million in revenue and that they were working on trying to acquire this large market.
Later on, in an interview, the three founders did confess that they were given a lot of negative comments after rejecting such an offer saying that they were just stupid as well as gold diggers for some reason. They also said that if a man had rejected it, audiences might have approached it in a different manner.