‘Anti-superficial’ dating app S’More raises $2.1M – ProWellTech

S’More, a dating app geared towards helping users find more meaningful relationships, today announced that it has raised $ 2.1 million in seed money.

S’More (short for “a little more”) ensures that users can’t focus on the physical appearance as photos are initially blurry – they gradually blur as you interact with someone. The startup introduced new features such as video chat (also fuzzy at first) and launched a redesigned app earlier this month. CEO Adam Cohen-Aslatei said it was a “completely redesigned product” with new features like real-time call announcements and the ability to pay to promote your profile.

Cohen-Aslatei also said S’More’s focus on “anti-superficial relationships” is drawing a real audience with 160,000 downloads in the first year and “thousands” of paying users, including a 50% increase in subscriptions after the new app launched in January.

Cohen-Aslatei looked at how dating will play out after the pandemic and suggested, “I don’t think we’ll be the way it was again.” He pointed to a current survey among S’More users 80% of respondents said they didn’t have a single personal live date in 2020.

“Do you want to meet up on Tinder for a casual encounter, or do you want to have a chat to meet a real person on S’More?” he said. Assuming that many people choose the latter, the next question is, “How is discovery fun? There has to be multimedia, video, audio, games, all of these features are part of our product roadmap … S’More will feel like Hinge meets Nextdoor. “(Apparently, Nextdoor has a” large cohort “of users who are single and looking for relationships.)

Credit: S’More

The new funding comes from a long list of investors: Benson Oak Ventures, Mark Pincus’ Workplay Ventures, Gaingels VC, Loud Capital / Pride Fund
SideCar Angels, AppLovin Chairman Rafael Vivas, Joshua Black from Apollo Management, Ken Harris, CEO of Plus Grade, George Church, Former Meet Group Geneticist, John Abbott, Former Brad Weschler, CEO of IMAX, Aaron and Sharon Stern, Justen Stepka / Enterprise Fund, Boston Harbor Angels, Jordan French, CEO of Grit Daily, Marty Isaac, founder of Kind.Fund, Craig Mullett and Dating Group.

Cohen-Asletai told me the funding had already enabled him to hire a so-called “founding team,” including chief architect Long Nguyen, operations manager Sneha Ramanchandran, product and design manager Regina Guinto and lead developer David Lichy.

S’More also announces that it has signed a production deal with producers Elvia Van Es Oliva and Jack Tarantino, who have worked on shows like “90 Day Fiancé”. Cohen-Asletai said the startup will work with them to create “superficial” dating content for digital platforms and TV networks.

This deal builds on the success of S’More Live, the startup’s celebrity dating show on Instagram Live, which has aired 60 episodes so far.

“We use this show to build our brand, gain awareness and then …
We are actually able to take advantage of all viewers and realign them with content from S’More, which has resulted in our cost of acquiring a user [very affordable]”Said Cohen-Asletai.