As the downturn bites, VCs are putting more into the companies they feel most confident about rather than the spray-and-pray approach of the last three years. That, combined with companies that have proven models, and developing revenues. The latest example of this is the €15 million investment from the European VC Index Ventures into Be2, the Munich-based global dating site. But this is not your average dating site. This bases its business on an algorithm which identifies specific personality traits and characteristics and uses them to match potentially compatible partners. The engine draws its data from an in-depth personality test for subscribers, creating a higher success rate than humans could achieve left to their own amorous devices.
The test is mainly based on the “New York Longitudinal Study” about the five factor model of personality development and Sternberg “triangular theory of love” - if that floats your boat.
The user demographic of be2 is also slightly older, compared to other dating sites, with an age range of 25 – 69 years and a majority of users aged 30 – 49 years. Not a demographic well served by most dating sites. Perhaps as a results of this focus it now has 12 million members in 34 countries and was cash flow positive 6 weeks after a launch, despite having 225 employees.
be2 will use the capital to further international expansion. Angel investors and Paris-based Banexi Ventures were the company’s initial investors and Index partner, Dom Vidal, will take a seat on the board.
Coming out of Munich, the founders - such as CEO, Robert Wuttke - are mostly ex-Lycos Europe people from back in the day.
wow. not the prettiest site. but, it’ll do.
€15m for a site that has 54 users currently online? Jesus.
12M users, but only 22K profiles. 71 users online when I looked. This is where the safe money is going? Sounds more a like bubble era deal to me.
That is certainly a weird disparity, especially since I can’t figure out a way to be a “user” (look at stuff) without registering (”profile”).
Techcrunch have linked this post to the wrong website. Index Ventures has invested in be2.com - not be2.net. Hopefully they’ll change this asap!
Techcrunch, you made a mistake. be2.net is the crapiest site arround.
Well yeah, wrong company in the box… fail
Well, the author’s name is “Butcher.”
I guess the number of users online is not a factor. What’s important is that they are happy
Most dating sites both free and paid have a average age of between 37 and 43 with yahoo the oldest at 41.
Robert Wuttke has come a long way i met him when it first got off the ground, they seem to own the non english speaking world which most of the bigger sites can’t seem to do.
I tried it, and I should say I like it. I already got a message from someone. I’ve even wired her money to fly to my city.
Nick M, that’s funny. You guys are a bit harsh, don’t you think. They haven’t done anything wrong, have they?!
Mike,
You still need to change be.net to be.com in the description field.
Yet another stupid matching algorithm.
Can I not just talk to who I want and decide for myself? Questionnaires are dumb.
I think a dating site can work if it stands out and has additional value and add-ons that it can charge to increase revnue.
I really wonder whether some of these TC articles are Paid Reviews and the person writing them just paraphrases the press release without spending more than 5 minutes checking out the site. I mean come on, the site’s ‘advanced search’ doesn’t even let users search by geographical location, and there is no traffic and plenty of fake spam profiles.
I have had similar comments about the geographical sarch. However, don’t forget that they are coming from Europe and ZIP codes do not exist in Europe. Things will be eventually added. I wish them all the best
Please note that there are MANY complaints about not being able to cancel subscriptions in a timely fashion and getting the run-around from “Customer Service”. My personal experience supports that view and, although I’m hoping for the best, my gut tells me this is another Bre-X.
this site sucks. i signed up for be2.com and got 20 emails from individuals supposedly interested in my profile and thought “wow! i was never this lucky on match.com”. well guess what? 19 of them were spam. it seems the only “algorithm” here is a sawed-off shotgun marketing strategy (i.e. NO strategy).
and they seem to randomly assign physical attributes to you for which i have still been unable to find out how to change (there’s apparently no way to do so — the UI is crap and customer service never got back to me).
so now i too will be setting up my own “algorithmic” (oooo…) dating site as a front to con greedy gullible venture capitalists in to making me an overnight millionaire and then run off the next day to become an international playboy instead while my spamtastic site rots to the ground leaving them VCs clutching their balls.
i receive lots of messages which i have never experienced at other sites. i spent lots of time trying to know more about them. finally i find out they are all scammars. i guess B2 has special offer to africa scammars.
I guess the number of users online is not a factor. What’s important is that they are happy!
I have had a very bad experience with this site. 15000000 profiles they state. Only when i searched availeble profiles i only mannaged to come up with 50 or so, including 3 different countries in my search. They sent me profiles that dont exist, weird messages by people that dont exist and they make you end your membership by fax. Hardly any good info is availeble on their site, they just keep redirecting you ending up where you started. Its a scam if i ever saw one.