India

Tinder has launched Tinder U in India, a new feature that connects college students attending the same school or other nearby universities.

According to Indian Express,Tinder U allows students with a valid school email address to opt in to the feature, which works as a dedicated space for college students to connect and search for other students with the same interests. Once a new user is verified through the app’s application process, they can populate their profiles with details like college clubs, sports, and other activities to make it easy to find matches and expand their circles – whether for friendship or dating.

Tinder U users can also add the year they graduate and their majors to spark interest with others in the same graduating year or program of study. Users can also “Superlike” someone who grabs their interest.

Tinder Dating Handbook

Image: Tinder

On International Women’s Day, Tinder announced the launch of Her New Dating Rule Book, a guide to challenging dating norms and traditions for singles in India.

According to Mashable India, the new guide offers new “rules” for dating today, including who should foot the bill on a first date. Traditionally, it’s been the man, but Tinder says that dating dynamics are changing, and young women in India embrace a more progressive, less traditional approach.

One of the first rules of the guidebook states: “Respect Over Outdated Gender Roles, a.k.a. Chivalry 2.0,” to highlight the fact that young singles are looking for mutual respect and dates who keep promises over outdated notions of chivalry, like expecting a man to pay for a meal. And 36 percent surveyed said they value dates who give their full attention and put the phone away on the date.

Young singles in India are turning to new and unexpected platforms to expand their networks, including LinkedIn for dating and Bumble for finding a job.

According to India Today, a recent survey from DatingNews.com found that 61 percent of respondents aged 35 to 40 said they have found their dates on LinkedIn. And 52 percent aged 20 to 40 said they looked to apps like LinkedIn to find dates.

Traditionally, LinkedIn has been a networking platform for careers, but lately people have been turning away from dating apps and gravitating to other social platforms, and especially to LinkedIn. At first, this trend was being reported in the US, but now it seems to be global.

India-based dating app Schmooze just raised $4 million from Elevation Capital and other angel investors.

The meme-based dating app founded by Vidya Madhavan and Abhinav Bengaluru helps people connect based on their senses of humor and allows them to express their personalities creatively through memes. The round of funding also included investments from the founders of Ultrahuman, The Souled Store, Mosaic Wellness and Paytm, according to Economic Times.

The funding comes at a time when dating app revenue has been declining and dating app companies are struggling to better monetize their platforms. Many are turning to AI for enhanced features, like photo selection, helping users craft bios, and added safety features, hoping to attract users willing to pay for such perks.

Schmooze is also touting its AI-driven features, and said that the new funds will be used to enhance its AI engine as well as for growing the company, according to Economic Times.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble has launched a marketing campaign in India to highlight its new feature Opening Moves, featuring two young Bollywood celebrities.

According to The Times of India, the campaign stars Khushi Kapoor and Vedang Raina in a series of films, where Kushi asks Vedang questions like “what is your guilty pleasure?” and “what is your iconic date idea?” Opening Moves allows women to post a question to potential suitors, so Bumble’s ad is demonstrating the feature in a fun way.

The beloved Bollywood actors share personal anecdotes and talk about the changes Bumble has made, as well as the cultural shift of dating in India, where women are feeling more empowered and more and more people are meeting online.

Young daters in India are looking to find love based on their passion for sports like Cricket, according to a new study by dating app Happn.

According to the Deccan Chronicle, more than 60 percent of singles on the app are looking to match with someone who shares their love of sports. Cricket is by far the favorite sport among daters, but women over 35 are particularly enthralled with the sport (79 percent) and are more likely to match with someone else who shares that passion.

The majority of singles (over 70 percent) also want their partners to be athletic as well as being into sports. Among Gen Z singles, that figure rises to 83 percent. Women are more interested in playing a sport together on a date than men are, too.