{"id":24555,"date":"2021-05-28T05:52:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T05:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/paired-pulls-in-3-6m-to-encourage-more-couples-to-get-cosy-with-app-based-relationship-care.html"},"modified":"2021-05-28T05:52:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T05:52:18","slug":"paired-pulls-in-3-6m-to-encourage-more-couples-to-get-cosy-with-app-based-relationship-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/paired-pulls-in-3-6m-to-encourage-more-couples-to-get-cosy-with-app-based-relationship-care.html","title":{"rendered":"Paired pulls in $3.6M to encourage more couples to get cosy with app-based relationship care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can an app improve your romantic relationships? The founders behind Paired<\/a>, a \u201crelationship care\u201d app for couples, believe it can. And since launching in October<\/a>, with $1 million to kick things off, they\u2019ve convinced 5,000+ coupled-up others to try their custom blend of partner quizzes, \u201crelationship satisfaction\u201d tracking, and audio tips from experts \u2014 to try to feel closer to their S.O.<\/p>\n

Paired is now gunning for serious growth: It\u2019s announcing $3.6 million in seed funding today, led by Eka Ventures with participation from existing investors including Taavet Hinrikus (Wise, formerly TransferWise), Harold Primat (investor and former professional racing driver), and the co-founders of Runtastic.<\/p>\n

As part of the seed funding, Camilla Dolan of Eka Ventures will join the board alongside the app\u2019s co-founders Kevin Shanahan and Diego L\u00f3pez (who previously worked together at language learning app Memrise<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Paired says its goal for the new funding is to grow its user-base from 5,000+ to 100,000 over the next 18 months.<\/p>\n

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Paired picks up $1M funding and launches its relationship app for couples<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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All sorts of audio-led wellness \u201cself-care\u201d apps<\/a> have been bubbling up in recent years \u2014 offering individuals app-wrapped help with stuff like meditation<\/a> and mindfulness<\/a>; targeted motivation to combat anxiety<\/a> and stress<\/a>; or\u00a0dishing up sex tips<\/a> and sexual self-awareness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paired fits within that broader trend<\/a>, albeit with a more explicit nudge to extend the self-care phenomenon to a unit of two romantically connected people.<\/p>\n

As it looks for growth, the U.K.-based startup says it will continue to target the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, which are its main markets at this point. \u201cWe expect the growth to continue to come from here over the next 12 months,\u201d says Shanahan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building out our product team \u2014 hiring engineers, a product manager, a data scientist \u2014 to begin offering more varied and personalised relationship conversations for our users,\u201d he goes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonalisation is a particular focus as every relationship is different and the app will begin to understand what your interests are, what stage you\u2019re in, what would be most useful for you to discuss, etc. We\u2019re also growing our content, working with new experts to cover more relationship topics and marketing the app via influencers, partnerships and other channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who are Paired\u2019s early adopters? Currently, the average user is a straight, early 30s millennial who\u2019s been in their current relationship for 2-3 years, according to Shanahan. (He says around 5% of users are LGBTQ+.)<\/p>\n

But he also claims Paired has a wide mix of users, adding: \u201cWe have couples who have been together for 6 months and those who have been together for 10+ years, so it\u2019s a wide spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the split of women and men using the app is \u201cfairly even\u201d but avoids specifying exactly how usage splits on gender lines.<\/p>\n

The app can be used by only one half of a couple \u2014 for solo relationship support\/self-care, if preferred \u2014 but users have the option to pair with their partner to swap answers to relationship questions in order to encourage discussion. And that\u2019s where Paired can offer the most personalized experience to users, by opening up a dedicated \u201crelationship\u201d discussion channel between the couple. (Paired does not obviously cater to open\/polyamorous couples \u2014 but presumably could be used as a discussion tool for the primary partners.)<\/p>\n\n

The idea isn\u2019t to replace couples therapy, per Shanahan. Rather Paired wants to create a whole new intermediating layer \u2014 based on the notion that communication problems in a relationship can be tackled earlier (and more easily) if you stick a piece of software between you that nudges both halves of the relationship to notice and address potential disconnect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf couples therapy is a dentist for your relationship, then we would be a toothbrush,\u201d is how Shanahan puts it when asked if the idea is to replace couples therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a toothbrush is not a substitute for the dentist, we aren\u2019t trying to replace couples therapy. Our goal is to promote healthy relationship behaviours between couples and believe our audience will eventually grow to become the majority of couples,\u201d he suggests.<\/p>\n

He points to a study Paired commissioned from the Open University and University of Brighton \u2014 which he says showed that couples who used the app over the course of three months saw on average a 36% increase in their \u201crelationship satisfaction.\u201d (Albeit quantifying such a subjective measure as a percentile increase may not appeal to every romantic person\u2019s tastes.)<\/p>\n

Shanahan says Paired wants to offer ongoing support, too \u2014 rather than (the opposite scenario) of its users arriving at such a point of mutual understanding they could feel they don\u2019t ever need to take another partner quiz to understand what their life partner is thinking\/feeling.<\/p>\n

Its philosophy is, no matter how thoughtful you get vis-a-vis your S.O., there\u2019s always more to learn and thus you always need to keep working on \u201crelationship care.\u201d It is of course a very convenient philosophy for a subscription app.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou probably wouldn\u2019t say success when you\u2019re fit is to stop going to the gym,\u201d says Shanahan. \u201cOr when your teeth are healthy to stop brushing your teeth. Similarly we want Paired to be a tool to help keep your relationship in a good place, so success for us is keeping your relationship satisfaction high over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what have the founders learned about their own relationships from using Paired?<\/p>\n

Shanahan confirms that he and his partner have been using the app \u201ca ton (and not just for testing),\u201d adding: \u201cI\u2019ve personally learnt that there is always more to discover about your partner and it\u2019s a fun journey. Also that discussing issues when they are small is useful so they don\u2019t become big later down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

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3 golden rules for health tech entrepreneurs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Diego L\u00f3pez, Paired\u2019s other co-founder and CTO, tells us that the daily questions posed by the app have \u201chelped my partner and I fight lockdown monotony. There\u2019s been many occasions where we give the same answer to a question. It\u2019s a great feeling to know that we understand each other and a reminder of the things we have in common.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on Paired\u2019s seed round in a statement, Camilla Dolan from Eka Ventures, said: \u201cDespite relationship health being such an important and truly global part of our lives there is not currently an accessible and affordable way of supporting it \u2014 Paired<\/span> has set out to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Kevin and Diego\u2019s vision to bring happiness and health to relationships and be the global category leader for relationship management. What really got us excited though was the Paired<\/span> user stories and the level of change that Paired<\/span> is already having on their early users.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another supporting statement, existing investor Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise, added: \u201cKevin and the Paired<\/span> team have a vision for improving the relationships of hundreds of millions of couples. Building and strengthening relationships is something we all need help with from time to time, but lots of people feel unsure of where to turn for help. The rapid uptake from paid subscribers since their October launch makes me confident that it can become the global, digital platform for relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paired\u2019s app (available on iOS<\/a> and Google Play<\/a>) is free to download \u2014 but a monthly or yearly subscription is required to access the full range of content and support.<\/p>\n

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Quilt, an audio social network focused on self care, raises $3.5 million in seed<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Tinder founder funds sex tips app Lover<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/_pee1RbbtLY\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can an app improve your romantic relationships? The founders behind Paired, a \u201crelationship care\u201d app for couples, believe it can. And since launching in October, with $1 million to kick <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-24555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t