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beaten, a dating app for Gen Z and Centennials, has raised $10 million in Series A financing. Among the investors are Makers Fund, Possible Ventures, Wonder Invest and more. This new round of funding will help the company expand into new areas and grow their user base.
“My co-founder, Asgeir, and I share an intense interest in how people connect and communicate,” said David Simonarson, co-founder and CEO of Smitten, in a press release. “After years of creating consumer social apps, we fell in love with the online dating space and launched Smitten in 2020. We created personality-based games and fun interactive profiles to make it easy for strangers to form meaningful connections. Seeing how much our users love Smitten, we believe we can become the leading player in online dating for Generation Z.”
Smitten opts for a new approach to matching people. Since the app shows you different profiles, you have the opportunity to play games to get to know the person. If you like the answers they gave to the questions, you can like the person and start a match.
“With our questionnaire game, Guessary, you can get to know the other person you are viewing by guessing how they answered a series of yes-and-no questions,” explains Asgeir Visir, co-founder and designer of Smitten. “You could answer questions like, ‘Were they ever arrested?’ or “Do they like pineapple on their pizza?” and you would get feedback immediately if you answered it right or not. Another fun game, Lie Detector, is inspired by the age-old social game Two Truths and Lie, where people add three statements about themselves to their profile and you have one chance to discover the lie. These games are designed for users to get to know the person they are watching before deciding whether to like them or not. And the great thing is that when you match someone, the results of the games are posted in the chat and act as an icebreaker, making it so much easier to start a fun conversation.”
Currently, Smitten is the most popular dating app in Iceland and the second most popular in Denmark. With over 200 million swipes to date, it shows no signs of stopping. A study has shown that Smitten has a 60% success rate after the match compared to: Tinder’s 11%.
“Social discovery and gaming is an increasingly interesting intersection, and Smitten’s team has created an incredibly fun experience that really strikes a chord with young adults,” said Alli Ottarson, Makers’ leader of the deal. “Having spent time building a strong relationship with founders David and Ásgeir, we have been privileged to have a front row seat to follow Smitten’s success. We share a common vision of how the next generation will meet and interact, and we are excited to be part of the Smitten journey.”
For more information about Smitten, check out their website here.
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