New dating service, andwemet hopes to break stereotypes of virtual dating

By Lata Jha

NEW DELHI : Around 70% of the users of the platform are women and it is targeting Indians within the country and settled abroad, in the 28-35 age group. The platform andwemet enters the Indian dating app market dominated by players such as Tinder, Bumble, TrulyMadly, and OkCupid.

• Unlike other platforms, andwemet only allows users above the age of 25 to join the service which is a verified by presenting a government-approved ID

While millennials juggle relationships with work and daily lives, a new dating service, andwemet, wants to break stereotypes associated with virtual dating. Unlike other platforms, it only allows users above the age of 25 to join the service which is a verified by presenting a government-approved ID. Further, users have to answer a bunch of questions before they are approved by the platform to interact with others.

“The aim is not to be known as a dating or matchmaking app but as a social platform for new-age relationships," said founder Shalini Singh.

When answering questions such as whether they are okay with long-distance relationships, having a partner shorter than them (in case of women), having a working professional as a partner (in case of men), if they’d like to own pets, how much of a role their parents would play in the decision-making process, users are able to filter matches based on uncomfortable truths that they often fail to confront in the initial euphoria of getting into a relationship, Singh said.

Users who do not finish answering these questions will not be approved by the platform. Further, having a legitimate ID provides some validation of interacting with an authentic profile. Singh said andwemet also encourages users to discuss relationship set-ups besides conventional marriage, such as live-ins or companionship for them to know “marriage should not be the only acceptable form of committed relationship."

“We want to break the association that virtual dating often has with being frustrated or desperate," said Singh and added that the platform does not have an app yet but is only available on the web. Around 70% of the users are women and the platform is targeting Indians within the country and settled abroad, in the 28-35 age group.

To be sure, andwemet enters the Indian dating app market dominated by players such as Tinder, Bumble, TrulyMadly, and OkCupid. Dating apps reach 2.2% of India's total population and are on track to reach 3.6% by 2024, market researcher Statista has estimated.

As appeared in mint