Ohlala, a Berlin, Germany-based paid dating platform, raised $1.7m in seed funding.
Backers included Max Finger, Ben Kubota, and Markus Ertler.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations in Europe and US. It also announced the opening of a New York City office, and launch to seven cities across Germany including Stuttgart, Cologne, and Dusseldorf.
Launched in August 2015 by CEO Pia Poppenreiter, Ohlala is a paid dating platform that matches users with paid dates. To initiate conversations, users create verified profiles in which male users can fill date requests detailing specifications such as time and price range.
Requests are made available to all active female users in the area for 21 minutes, creating an instant dating experience. Once the request is accepted, private conversations begin to discuss details of the date. Once both users have agreed upon the terms of the date, the price of the date is logged, and the date is accepted, users can then take the conversation offline and meet face-to-face under the agreed parameters.
Ohlala, which has arranged over 25,000 paid dates across Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and Hamburg to date, features identity verification processes to initiate in-person connections while the infrastructure, from initial messages to the agreed upon terms between users, is private, this meant to create a safer platform.
FinSMEs
04/02/2016