Dating app Tinder has just announced its first office outside the United States. And it’s in New Delhi.
This first international office of the app, which launched in 2012, has Harvard University alumnus Taru Kapoor as its head in India.
as potential users in India.
“Tinder takes away the fear of rejection, the fear of reaching out to a stranger. But more importantly, it gives power to women and lets them have control of a conversation and relationship and connect with someone they want to,” she told Forbes.
Known as a platform for easy hook-ups, the app in India hopes to offer people more options than dating and help find friends and like-minded ones. Dating though will remain its most popular category, she added.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Tinder’s CEO said, “We have exciting plans for Tinder in 2016 and having Taru on board is a step towards making India one of our core markets.”
Why India?
The app claims it has 140 crore ‘swipes’ a day, and India accounts for 750 lakh daily swipes.
Interestingly, the app makes 260 lakh matches daily globally, and claims to have made 10 crore matches so far.
The potential in India is huge, it is claimed, as the country has over 160 million smartphone users currently, a number further expected to grow rapidly.
Taru, who studied at Indian Institute of Technology, says India could become the largest global market, and that Tinder users in India are growing at a rate of 1 percent every day.
Interestingly, the app in India launched additional features including information on education and professional details.