Move Over Tinder, TrulyMadly Models Itself After Dating App, But For Indian Culture


India refuses to use Tinder for online dating. In fact, the country has its own online dating app that’s modeled after Tinder. Introducing TrulyMadly, which is modeled after the North American version, but with trust protocols. Sachin Bhatia is the co-founder of the Indian dating app that’s looking to compete with Tinder, but wants to focus itself on India’s social and cultural areas, according to the American Bazaar.

According to Bhatia, “Facebook is India’s Facebook and Twitter is India’s Twitter, but Tinder won’t be India’s [Tinder].”

Bhatia recently spoke with TechCrunch about his online dating app. He said that although there’s still a stigma with online dating in India, TrulyMadly is trying “to make it more cool” in the country.

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The features of TrulyMadly closely resemble Tinder, that’s used in the North American markets. Bhatia said that he wanted his app tailored for Indian audiences, even if it it’s not successful in his country. The different between Tinder and TrulyMadly is that most Indian women don’t feel comfortable with taking the chance to meet the men they just talked to on the online dating app. That will also lower the risks of dangerous encounters and potential hookups, making it more of a dating site.

“We talked to women who told us that they’d be onboard if we could promise them verified profiles, and the chance to sift through men using some compatibility categories.”

TrulyMadly will use trust protocols to verify its users, something that Tinder doesn’t have. However, users will still need a Facebook profile to create a profile. They can also verify themselves through other social networking sites, a phone number, and a photo-ID to garner more “trust-based points.”

The company will then use an algorithm to determine if you are single and active on social media. Bhatia says that while Tinder focuses on finding people based on your location, TrulyMadly focuses on compatibility and trust-based scoring.

“We’re not location specific because this works better from an Indian context. People in smaller towns often want to meet and date people who are in bigger towns, while the pool of potential dates in small towns is limited.”

TrulyMadly has already launched on Android since the operating system is dominant in Indian markets. An app for the Windows Phone is also expected to release within the next month. The TrulyMadly app already has reached 200,000 downloads, and announced a $5.6 million funding from Helion Venture and Kae Capital. Bhatia hopes that the app will reach 3.5 million downloads by the end of the year.

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It’s not known whether users will have to pay to use the TrulyMadly online dating app. Meanwhile, in North America, users over the age of 30 will have to pay double to swipe right on Tinder. The dating app announced a new feature called Tinder Plus that’s going to cost the user $20 if they’re over the age of 30. Those under 30 will only pay $10 for the exact same service.

The new service has caused outrage on several social networking sites, including Twitter. Tinder hasn’t yet addressed the reason behind the pricing structure. TrulyMadly will probably dominate the Indian market after this news.

[Images: Courtesy of TrulyMadly, Tinder]

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