Dating Site TwoMangoes Forays Into India; Rajan Anandan-backed Dating Site Ignighter Rebrands

It's Valentine's Day today and we, therefore, feel it's apt to bring two bits of news for the lonely hearts club. The first is the India edition launch of the dating portal TwoMangoes, targeted at South Asians across the globe and has a presence in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and the UAE.

The two-year-old start-up aims to bring a new approach and perspective -- 'click, connect, meet' before marriage. It claims that the portal encourages singles to meet in a non-invasive environment, putting emphasis on the 'getting to know' stage of a relationship and not simply on marriage.

According to Anita Dharamshi, co-founder, TwoMangoes, "While matrimonial sites offer parents and family members the space to make decisions in the selection process of potential life partners, TwoMangoes.com offers individuals the choice and freedom of introducing themselves to other members at their own discretion, based on interests and matches in their geographic region."

Registration for TwoMangoes is free. One can send and receive messages and view profiles through the initial registration. But if one becomes a paid member through a subscription, he/she will get added benefits.

Dharamshi said, "Paid members tend to be more serious with higher levels of engagement and less likely to engage in 'player' type behaviour. Many users prefer to be contacted by someone with a paid subscription as it conveys a certain level of commitment and intent."

Another Dating Site Ignighter becomes StepOut

But this not the first dating site to have forayed in India with a similar interest. Rajan Anandan-backed Ignighter which has recently rebranded itself as StepOut a month back, also tries to fits into the niche between matrimonial sites and social networking, offering young Internet users an online platform for organizing informal meets in the real world, where they can decide whom to date.

This group dating site also raised $3 million in funding from a group of high profile investors including Indian angels Rajan Anandan(head of Google India), Sasha Mirchandani (one of the founding members of Mumbai Angels and Managing Director, BRV India) and Sunjay Guleria (the CEO of Exclusively.in).