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Benchmark is betting it will get lucky on Tinder.
Today the Woodside, CA V.C. announced that it has made an undisclosed investment in the hot dating app. Details of the deal were not disclosed. The round was led by Benchmark partner Matt Cohler–a former executive at Facebook and
As part of the deal Cohler will sit on Tinder’s board, joining Tinder CEO Sean Rad, Match Group Chairman Greg Blatt and Match Group CEO Sam Yagan.
Tinder is rumored to be growing like mad. CEO Sean Rad won’t comment on user numbers but told me that each day users swiped through 1.2 billion Tinder profiles and made more than 15 million matches.
Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen launched Tinder two years ago at Hatchlabs–an incubator backed by Barry Diller’s IAC. As a result, IAC owns a controlling stake in the company–a fact that has, until now, deterred any outside investment rounds. As one influential V.C. told me: “If it wasn’t for IAC, Tinder would be the most sought after startup around.”
Tinder (which is free to users) currently has no revenue model, but Rad announced on Oct. 20th at Forbes’ Under 30 Summit that he’d launch a premium subscription service early in November. While he wouldn’t go into details, Rad hinted that one feature would involve travel. “We are adding features users have been begging us for,” said Rad . “They will offer so much value we think users are willing to pay for them.”
Rad also aims to expand Tinder’s use beyond dating into more mature (but less sexy) markets like networking and job search–two fields Cohler, with his experience at Facebook andLinkedIn, knows well. Whatever the plan, with the heavy-hitters at Benchmark on board, expect Tinder to move in a new direction.
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