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Korean sisters’ dating app ‘Coffee Meets Bagel’ receives $7.8 million funding

February 20, 2015

Soo, left, Arum and Dawoon Kang of Coffee Meets Bagel (Courtesy of Coffee Meets Bagel)

By Brian Han

Coffee Meets Bagel, the social dating app founded by three Korean American sisters in their early 30s, announced that it has secured $7.8 million in Series A funding to expand to new geographies and grow its team.

The investment was led by existing investor DCM Ventures with participation from Quest Venture Partners and Azure Capital. As part of the deal, General Partner at DCM Ventures Osuke Honda will join Coffee Meets Bagel’s board of directors.

Coffee Meets Bagel differentiates itself from other dating apps through quality over quantity. Members receive one match per day or “Bagel”, carefully curated by Coffee Meets Bagel’s proprietary algorithm. Users have 24 hours to respond with a LIKE or a PASS. A mutual LIKE by two members leads to a private chat line that expires in seven days.

“This focus on quality and safety is what draws a lot of women to Coffee Meets Bagel,” says Arum Kang, CEO and co-founder. “The online dating industry has always had difficulty attracting and retaining women. The typical gender ratio in a given dating app is 65 to 35 – men to women. The key to winning this market and expanding the size of the pie is winning over women and we have figured that out at Coffee Meets Bagel.”

The financing comes on the heels of the company’s much anticipated Android app release. Then, shortly afterwards, the founding team appeared on Shark Tank only to turn down Mark Cuban’s $30 million acquisition offer. This was the largest offer ever for a company on Shark Tank. Coffee Meets Bagel also recently announced a new insight integration with Jawbone UP, where Coffee Meets Bagel provides the single members of Jawbone UP community with fun insights and tips on fitness and dating.

“We are incredibly excited to lead this round of financing and believe that Coffee Meets Bagel is a definitive leader in this space,” said Honda. “Mobile is rapidly changing the way people meet, interact, and date. Coffee Meets Bagel has created a differentiated product with outstanding brand recognition and the team has done an incredible job of designing a high quality user experience.”