Where Coffee Meets Bagel, the Dating App Startup That Turned Down $30M ‘Shark Tank’ Offer, Is Today

The Kang siblings developed the dating that is successful, Coffee Meets Bagel.

Coffee matches Bagel, the Dating App that Turned Down ‘Shark Tank’ Offer

? — The Kang siblings, Soo, Dawoon and Arum, stunned everybody else if they said no to $30 million, walking far from Mark Cuban’s record-setting offer due to their dating application on ABC’s “Shark Tank” early in the day in 2010.

“We got therefore emails that are many ‘You sisters are incredibly crazy! What exactly are you thinking?’” Dawoon Kang told “Nightline.” “Seeing all of the commentary and reviews … i must wonder, being called ‘greedy,’ ‘gold digger,’ would we now have been called those names when we are not ladies? I’d to wonder that.”

“If we had been males, we might oftimes be called ‘Bold! Visionary! Brave’ for rejecting. Needless to say we weren’t called that,” Arum Kang added, laughing.

However it might easily grow to be a courageous, bold and move that is visionary Soo, 35, Dawoon and Arum, both 32, believe their dating software, Coffee Meets Bagel, will probably be worth much more, specially given that Tinder is respected at $1.5 billion.

Coffee satisfies Bagel, that has raised $7.8 million in outside financing and it has a lot more than doubled its individual base since appearing on “Shark Tank” in January, areas itself as a substitute for all those sick and tired with over-sexualized times the sisters state are on other online dating services. Rather it fixes up individuals up with matches that give attention to quality over amount.

“We like to phone ourselves the anti-Tinder,” Arum stated. “Any girl who’s got utilized tinder has one or numerous tales associated with the forms of behavior males display on Tinder … it is perhaps perhaps not the best experience and … it seems creepy.”

Coffee suits Bagel is free and also the application provides one match, or even a “Bagel,” by noon each according to its website day. Users have actually a day to choose either to “Like” or “Pass” on the Bagel, if a couple “Like” one another, then your application will start an exclusive talk in order for them to set a date up, which just can last for a week. Bagels are determined through some type of computer algorithm that combs through users’ Twitter buddies and “friends of friends,” assessing passions and experiences that are personal match users with profiles similar to theirs.

But Coffee Meets Bagels faces competition in a niche that is crowded application market, increasing against apps like Tinder, Hinge, Bumble while the League, that are all vying with their little bit of the believed $2 billion online dating sites industry.

But unlike Tinder, where 58 per cent of their users are male based on their data, Coffee Meets Bagels boast a lot of feminine users. The Kang siblings state that is because their users are seeking love, not always intercourse.

“Women constitute nearly 50 % of Tinder’s individual base,” Tinder stated in a declaration to ABC Information, and “there are an incredible number of ‘swiped right’ stories that reveal Tinder is creating significant and lasting connections around the entire world.”

Jamie Miller, whom simply relocated to bay area from a tiny city in Ohio, tried Coffee satisfies Bagel because she desired to weed the weirdos out.

“once I first relocated right right here we met a small number of dudes but I felt like no body took it seriously,” she said. “Just, ‘Hey nice to fulfill you… bye…’ and I also want something significantly more than that.”

Her very first “Bagel” had been Zach, a 26-year-old company designer for the next start-up, plus in speaking with one another, they both discovered out they’d athletics in accordance, he soccer, and her x-country.

“We have actually a whole lot in typical,” Miller said. “ He has a great character. I like him to date. It’s the beginning.”

Whether this Bagel will grow to be “the one” or otherwise not, the Kang siblings are confident that Coffee Meets Bagel has what must be done to revolutionize the relationship game.

At their house workplace in new york, they’ve a wall surface of popularity specialized in a few of their users that are early wound up marrying their matches. In reality, the siblings state these are typically now creating about 500 partners per week, with over 200 marriages and 20,000 relationships as a consequence of matches through their software.

“At the finish of the afternoon we knew we made the decision that is right” Dawoon Kang stated.