[Exclusive] Vernacular dating app flutrr swipes right on Huma Qureshi as an investor

India is the fifth-largest market for dating apps in the world, according to smallcase. Modern dating culture as we know it today has permeated further into the subcontinent in the past decade and today, even young Indians from small towns are into online dating. However, the primarily English-dominated interactions on popular dating apps can be a barrier for many when it comes to expressing feelings and building connections, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities.

Kolkata-based Flutrr is working to break this barrier by bringing in online dating that supports 6 Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali), enabling young Indians to forge meaningful relationships rooted in shared linguistic, traditional, and cultural interests.

“Small-town India, colloquially known as "Bharat", boasts around 650 million youth who lack English fluency. However, the 'Jio Effect' has brought affordable internet access to even the remotest corners of the nation, levelling the digital playing field. flutrr is pioneering this change by offering a dating app available in major Indian languages, enabling young individuals to connect with potential romantic partners in their native tongues,” says Kaushik Banerjee, Co-Founder and CEO of flutrr.

The startup has raised Rs 2 crore in funding from Huma Qureshi and other angel investors including former Global CMO Hoechst and Merck Sandeep Bhattacharya and Director PayPal USA Yogesh Mishra. So far, flutrr has raised approximately $750,000 (Rs 6.5 crore) from notable investors, including Times of India, The Chennai Angels, and several luminaries from within the corporate sphere, including top-level executives from Google, SAP, Microsoft & DBS.

“Huma’s investment propels us toward becoming a pan-India success story from Kolkata. We’re thrilled to welcome a strong woman like Huma to the flutrr family,” says Kaushik.

“Huma has always taken up strong feminist roles in her career. And as a women-centric app, we couldn’t be more excited to have her on board,” adds Anirban, Co-Founder and CMO.

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Magic behind the matchmaking

Available for both Android and IOS users, the app operates on a pay-per-use monetisation model with micro-transactions. Instead of paying for a subscription, users only pay for premium features which they wish to purchase. 

For instance, if a user wants to get to the top of the queue in your curated target group, they can purchase a profile boost feature at Rs 79 for 6 hours. Similarly, for liking other profiles, users can purchase likes at Rs 25 for 7 units and many other features.

flutrr is also stringent about the safety of its users. Some of the safety features include a face recognition algorithm and mobile number verification to prevent fake profiles. 

The app also has a private mode messaging option and users can also erase chats from the receiver’s mobiles with a kill switch. Users can also use the blur filter during video calls and no screenshots can be taken in the app. They can also use a ‘ghost mode’ to hide their exact location.

The startup has introduced a few new features in its app to make it more engaging. One of its features called ‘finderr ’ gives a sneak peek into the lives of users on its platform, enabling users to create content in order to showcase themselves on the platform. 

"It works exactly like Insta or TikTok and is part of the profile which you see for a user," says Kaushik.

Other features include love quotes and music for its users, as well as a gifting option to increase engagement. 

“Our app is initiating a gifting culture by introducing coupons that reward users for sending more likes and messages on our platform. This incentivizes our users to engage more actively with our app,” explains Anirban.

The way ahead

flutrr is aiming to capitalise on the online dating industry in India, which is expected to reach $69.90 million in 2024. 72% of its users are from Tier II and smaller towns, says Kaushik. Further, the match rate on its app is 8.58% as compared to 2-3% for English dating apps across the top 30 cities of India.

With an active user base exceeding 400,000, the app is nearing 1 million downloads and generating a monthly revenue of Rs 20-21 lakh. With this, flutrr is on track to be profitable by the end of 2024, says Kaushik.

The startup aims to reach 5-6 million users in the next 12 months and is on track to reach operational breakeven by the end of 2024. They also plan to make tech hires in the next 12 months.