tag:,2009:/1/tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116- 2009-11-23T18:55:43Z Comments for Online Dating: SpeedDate.com Raises $6 Million Movable Type 4.23-en tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116 2008-08-28T22:30:34Z 2008-08-28T22:41:32Z Online Dating: SpeedDate.com Raises $6 Million If you think regular online dating is still too slow and inconvenient, SpeedDate.com might just be the thing for you. The San Mateo based online dating service just raised $6 million in a Series B round from Menlo Ventures after raising a Series A round for the same amount in January 2007. SpeedDate.com sets itself... Frederic Lardinois speeddate_logo.jpgIf you think regular online dating is still too slow and inconvenient, SpeedDate.com might just be the thing for you. The San Mateo based online dating service just raised $6 million in a Series B round from Menlo Ventures after raising a Series A round for the same amount in January 2007. SpeedDate.com sets itself apart from its competitors by allowing its users to quickly set up short webcam conversations.

]]> According to SpeedDate.com, it hosts over 100,000 online speed dates a day. Part of this growth is surely due to the fact that SpeedDate.com is also a very popular application on MySpace, Beebo, and Facebook (though it was banned there for a while in July). Because of this, it is hard to track exactly how popular the site is, but according to Google Trends for Websites, the site is indeed growing at a rapid clip and a lot of its growth seems to come from outside of the United States.

While the press release doesn't go into any detail, it seems safe to assume that the company needed a new infusion of money to sustain its rapid growth. While a lot of its competitors are for-pay, SpeedDate has adopted a free model, though it is considering the addition of a premium as well.

Online dating is a competitive field, where large entities like Match.com, eHarmony, and Yahoo Personals seem to dominate, but at the same time, other sites like Randomate, WooMe, or OmniDate have been able to carve out a niche for themselves by putting different twists on the online dating model. SpeedDate.com, though, with its instant webcam conversations, looks like it stands a good chance to continue growing in this competitive field.

SpeedDate company profile provided by TradeVibes
]]> tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:65069 Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2008-08-28 Marshall Kirkpatrick Ugh, those people.

]]> 2008-08-29T00:51:14Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:65086 Comment from Natalie Ferguson on 2008-08-28 Natalie Ferguson http://www.simpleandloveable.com Who would have thought? We are all regretting our non-starting of an online speed dating website. A company like ours would be perfect. Limitless gossip. can't think of anything better :)

]]> 2008-08-29T04:08:33Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:65101 Comment from Snowcore on 2008-08-29 Snowcore http://snowcore.net Wow!!! 6 millions!!! Thats great!

]]> 2008-08-29T07:37:03Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:65103 Comment from johnnle on 2008-08-29 johnnle If I had $6MM I could probably get quite a few dates :-)...goodluck with the concept...sounds very encouraging as it introduces the novelty of a quasi face-2-face versus the pure text based model dating sites that leave a lot of the nuances of articulation and expression at the door.

]]> 2008-08-29T07:45:02Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:65549 Comment from Matt on 2008-09-03 Matt http://www.elitespeeddating.co.uk Real speed dating is still the best... I mean, how sort of time are people!!!!

]]> 2008-09-03T18:27:04Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2008://1.7116-comment:111871 Comment from Sissy on 2008-09-24 Sissy http://www.wealthyfish.com In fact, WealthyFish.com is far better than that site

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