Online dating site SpeedDate has raised $6 million in a Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures. SpeedDate offers users a series of 3 minute mini-dates, during which they can converse through video, audio, and a chat box. If both partners decide they were a good match when prompted at the end of the date, they can continue communicating through the site until they make the jump to real life.
When we first wrote about SpeedDate, the site had a small userbase, which made it difficult to conduct a series of dates (there simply weren’t enough potential matches). Since then the site has grown substantially (claiming 100,000 dates daily), so you can hop on and hope to find a reasonable match within a few minutes.
I decided to put the site to the test once again now that it can reliably serve up a stream of potential prospects. Unlike most dating sites, there was no lengthy signup process – the site leaves the real matchmaking to your video chats. And while SpeedDate seemed to totally ignore the interests and personality traits I entered anyway, the experience was still surprisingly fun. I typically only had to wait a few minutes between each session, and girls I spoke to during my “dates” told me that their general experience on the site had been quite positive.
SpeedDate is a direct competitor to Woome, a similar speed-dating site that offers quick video sessions.