Y-Combinator-Backed AI Startup Betterhalf.ai Raises $3 Mn

AI-based matrimony app Betterhalf.ai has raised $3 million in its Pre-Series A round. The Y Combinator Winter-21 batch startup raised money from S2 Capital, Quiet Capital, and angel investors Kunal Shah and Samvit Ramadurgam, among others. 

Betterhalf.ai plans to use the fresh funds to boost its app engagement, build monetisation features etc.

Founded in 2016 by Rahul Namdev and Pawan Gupta, Betterhalf.ai has raised a total of $5.2 million since it became operational. It is backed by the likes of Y Combinator, Tribe Capital, Nurture Ventures, Shailesh Rao (former MD of Google India and Former Partner of TPG Capital), and Saurabh Garf (Founder and CBO of Nobroker). 

Saurabh said, “Matchmaking is very broken and users have to waste a lot of time and effort on matrimony apps. I appreciate the strength and relentless focus of the Betterhalf team in using technology to create an improved user experience in the Indian matrimony market. Betterhalf’s strategy to connect the brides and groom without parents’ intervention is what makes it super powerful and differentiated.” 

The AI-matrimony app focuses on behavioral matching criteria. “It combines a modern user interface and personalised recommendations.We think that the AI-based matrimony startup has taken the best of western dating apps, customised those learnings to the Indian matrimony market, and created a one-of-a-kind product that is going to reinvent the matrimony experience for young Indian single,” said David Greenbaum, Partner at Quiet Capital. 

At present, Betterhalf.ai facilitated over a million matches and a thousand marriages across a user base of 700,000 users, generating a monthly revenue of $75,000 and growing at 30 percent month-on-month. 

Pawan said, “The closing of this round post-Y Combinator Demo Day is a marker of the investors’ confidence on readiness of 100 million urban Indians for a new age matrimony app and allows us to take the company from $1 million run rate to $5 million run rate for our next Series A round.”