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At first glance, YC-backed Muzmatch<\/a>\u2018s dating app might look best described as a \u2018Tinder for Muslims\u2019. But co-founders Shahzad Younas and Ryan Brodie are clear about what sets their target audience apart from the casual dating\/hook-up crowd: a genuine intent to find a partner in order to get married.<\/p>\n Which is why, they say, they\u2019re definitely not just cloning Tinder for Muslims.<\/p>\n \u201cOur audience is super captivated, they\u2019re so invested in this search,\u201d says Brodie. \u201cFor a Muslim in their twenties, their upbringing has been so centered to find a husband or wife. And that is for most Muslims. I think some people think it\u2019s just like JCrush for Jews. But it\u2019s totally not about that from where we stand.<\/p>\n \u201cNot just market size \u2014 we\u2019re more than 100 times larger market than the Jewish market, for example \u2014 but the real difference is the seriousness and intent. It\u2019s not casual dating. In Islam there\u2019s a concept where\u2026 you\u2019re only ever going to be half way there without your spouse. So this is how central it is. This is where almost all our users come at it from.\u201d<\/p>\n Some two years after the launch of the first version of the app, Muzmatch has around 200,000 users, spread across ~160 countries, and is growing around 10 per cent, month on month, according to the co-founders.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had weddings across the world,\u201d says\u00a0Younas. \u201cRight now about 30 people a day are leaving our app and telling us specifically I found my partner on your app or I just got engaged or we just got married.\u201d<\/p>\n Growth thus far has coming organically, via word-of-mouth recommendations in the Muslim community, they say. Around half of Muzmatch users are in the UK; around a third are in the US and Canada; with the rest spread all over the world. Gender wise, roughly two-thirds of are male, and one-third is female. The average age is mid to late twenties.<\/p>\n The founders say the matchmaking app has led to around 6,000 couples getting together so far \u2014 and \u201cat least 600 confirmed weddings\u201d \u2014 although they can\u2019t be sure the number isn\u2019t higher as not everyone messages them with their stories.<\/p>\n They tell a funny story about how they were emailed by a man from Uganda thanking them for helping him meet his wife via the app \u2014 and when they went to check exactly how many users they had in Uganda it was, well, just those two. \u201cWhen it\u2019s meant to be, it is meant to be!\u201d says Younas.<\/p>\n Despite a few \u2018rest of world\u2019 successes to point to, their current \u201cconcentrated focus\u201d is on Muslims in the West \u2014 tackling what they describe as the \u201ckey problem\u201d for this 60-million community: \u201clow density of Muslims\u201d. Which means that Muslim singles searching for a partner of the same faith in towns and cities in places like the UK, US and Canada are likely to face a shortage of potential mates. At least in their immediate vicinity.<\/p>\n These dynamics work in Muzmatch\u2019s favor, reckons Brodie, because their target market is already geared up to putting in extra work to find \u2018the one\u2019. And is also therefore likely to appreciate a tech tool that helps make their search easier.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s great for us is there\u2019s already an expectation of movement, so we\u2019ve never had to worry about the network effect. Most dating apps, every user expects to meet the one a mile down the road \u2014 luckily for us, that expectation isn\u2019t there, which is brilliant,\u201d he tells TechCrunch.<\/p>\n Another advantage of addressing such an engaged user base, according to the founders, is Muzmatch\u2019s singles are incentivized to fill out their profiles with lots of detailed information \u2014 given how many criteria can be at play as part of their search (i.e. over and above just whether they find a potential partner attractive, and relating to other factors such as family, culture, tradition, religious level and so on) \u2014 and the app can then utilize all this rich user data for improving its suggested matches.<\/p>\n \u201cWith our app, and with the technology in the app, we\u2019re really trying to cater to those specific needs,\u201d says Younas, describing the difficulties Muslims in the West can have meeting a person who meets all their criteria. \u201cWe think that conventional Western dating apps don\u2019t really cater to this.\u201d<\/p>\n The business is already profitable, taking revenue including via premium subscriptions and in-app purchases which offer users additional features, such as the ability to be matched with someone before they\u2019ve liked you (as a way to try to get their attention) \u2014 though it\u2019s free to join and use the basic app.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause there\u2019s a more serious intent, people are more willing to spend vs\u2026 a casual dating app \u2014 where the expectation is almost free,\u201d argues Younas.<\/p>\n And while Muzmatch\u2019s feature-set has some basic mechanisms that would be familiar to any Tinder user, like the ability to \u2018like\u2019 or \u2018pass\u2019 on a possible match, and the ability to chat in-app with mutual matches, it also has differences that reflect the needs of its community \u2014 which Younas describes as being \u201cessentially\u201d without a casual dating market, as a result of marriage being \u201csuch a big part of our faith\u201d.<\/p>\n So, for example, all users have to take a selfie via the app so their profile can be manually verified to help boost trust and keep out spammers; users don\u2019t have to provide their real name though, and can choose not to display photos on their profiles or blur photos unless there\u2019s an active match.<\/p>\n Users are also asked to rate others they have interacted with \u2014 and these ratings are fed into the matching algorithm, with the aim of surfacing \u201cquality users\u201d and promoting positive behaviors that mesh well with a community of singles that\u2019s typically really serious about finding a life partner.<\/p>\n Female users can also opt for a chaperoning feature whereby all of their in-app chats are emailed to a wali\/guardian, should they wish to observe this type of Islamic etiquette.<\/p>\n There are a few other differences in how males and females experience the app, such as women having more granular controls over who can see their photos, and being able to view more profiles per day before being capped (this is on account of there currently being more male users, say the founders).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s transparent to both sides,\u201d says\u00a0Younas of the wali\/guardian option. \u201cSo both parties in that conversation know that there\u2019s a third party involved. And for us these are optional features we give to our users \u2014 depending on where they\u2019re at, we don\u2019t necessarily want to push a religious angle on people, but what we want to do is give them the option. So if you\u2019re very religiously inclined you can pick these options.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor us being accessible to everyone is really the key to owning this market,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere\u2019s 1.8 billion Muslims across the world, and they\u2019re very diverse \u2014 in culture, in language, in their outlooks, in particular religious etiquette, so what we\u2019re trying to do is navigate all of that in a very \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say neutral way \u2014 but in a very accessible way to everybody\u2026 And so far it\u2019s been working.\u201d<\/p>\n The founders say they are intentionally making an effort to discourage the transactional dynamic that can creep into dating apps like Tinder \u2014 so, for instance, there are limits on the number of profiles a user can swipe through in a 12 hour period (although users can also pay to remove the cap); and people can also go back and revisit profiles they previously passed on, or rematch with people they previously unmatched if they change their mind later.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve actually had many examples of now married couples that have actually gone back and changed their minds,\u201d says Brodie. \u201cUnlike say on Tinder you can actually rematch someone. So you can unmatch if it didn\u2019t work out and then in case six months later, something\u2019s changed\u2026 you can rematch them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a girl message us saying thank god for the rematch feature \u2014 because I wouldn\u2019t have got with this guy if you didn\u2019t have it,\u201d adds\u00a0Younas. \u201cSo we know this stuff works.\u201d<\/p>\n Younas boostrapped and built the initial app himself, having \u2014 as a young Muslim in London \u2014 been unimpressed with the quality of existing Muslim dating websites, which he describes as \u201cugly and horrible\u201d, and having a \u201cterrible reputation\u201d.<\/p>\n Brodie came on board later, after meeting Younas and being excited by the early traction for the MVP \u2014 and the pair relaunched Muzmatch last August.<\/p>\n With growing ambitions, they say they started to feel London was not the ideal base to try to scale a consumer app. Hence they applied and got onto Y Combinator\u2019s program \u2014 and will be graduating in the 2017 summer batch of YC startups.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ambitions have grown and grown and grown,\u201d says Brodie. \u201cWe realized the opportunity we have here and we thought, in London at least, we weren\u2019t going to get the ammo that we needed or the thoughts and the beliefs that you have in the West Coast of America\u2026 [YC] has got an incredible track record so we just thought let\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/p>\n While they\u2019ve started with Muslims living in the West, their ambitions scale to the global Muslim market as a whole \u2014 seeing big potential to grow beyond their first focus on markets with a low density of Muslims.<\/p>\n Indeed, Brodie argues there\u2019s even more need for a matchmaking app in majority Muslim countries which he says already have big but \u2014 as he sees it \u2014 ineffective and often expensive matchmaking industries. So, in other words, a high density of potential mates is still a problem for a matchmatching app to fix.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s already a huge market of matchmakers [in countries like Indonesia]. But it\u2019s incredibly ineffective,\u201d he argues. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a problem in the West, where there\u2019s low density, even in a country where everyone\u2019s a Muslim, as is the case for everyone, finding partners is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of competition, and setting aside the older generation of matchmaking websites, Brodie says there are a \u201cfew\u201d others trying to build dating apps for Muslim singles \u2014 a quick search on the App Store brings up Minder<\/a> and Salaam-Swipe<\/a>\u00a0as just two examples \u2014 but claims Muzmatch is at least twice as big as \u201cour nearest app competitor\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur competitors are going about this completely the wrong way,\u201d he argues. \u201cThey are essentially repackaging Tinder for Muslims which we know just doesn\u2019t work and is why our competition has really bad credibility in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe key for us is we\u2019ve tried to go about this with an understanding of the Muslim culture and the particular quirks and sensibilities in terms of how they find a partner,\u201d adds Younas.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this is why, for a lot of Muslims, Western dating apps don\u2019t work because it doesn\u2019t really cater to that particular need and intent. So, for us, from the beginning we\u2019ve really thought about that, and ingrained that into our design and into our product. And we think, long term, that will set us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n The founders also reckon Muzmatch might stand a better chance than typical dating apps of monetizing\u00a0beyond the business of matching and dating itself \u2014 by offering related services, such as, for example, helping users find a wedding venue. Which may be important if their users are pairing up and getting married relatively quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have a better chance than most to achieve monetization post-match. Because just the [short] timespan [between Muslims finding a partner and getting married] and the relationship with us is so close to the events unfolding I think, longer term, this might be an interesting space for us,\u201d says Brodie.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now the Muslim market is huge, so we\u2019re not going to run out of customers,\u201d adds Younas.<\/p>\n As they head into YC demo day, the pair are looking to raise funding but Younas says they intend to \u201ctread carefully\u201d, given Muzmatch is already profitable \u2014 the aim is to raise to \u201creally accelerate things but on a more sustainable level\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n They want to invest in areas such as localization and growing the size of the team (from currently just the two of them), so any funding will be going towards preparing for future growth, such as by investing in headcount and backend infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have global ambitions,\u201d says Younas. \u201cWe\u2019re not just looking at the US, Canada and the UK. We really want to be the global player for Muslims worldwide looking for a partner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWithout a doubt, in ten years\u2019 time, someone will have achieved this. We want to achieve this \u2014 and part of this raise will be making sure we have the ammo to really go for it,\u201d adds Brodie.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re not just a niche dating app. This is totally different.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a unique product, for 1.8 billion people\u2026 Half of the world\u2019s population of Muslims are under thirty. In countries like Saudi Arabia, two-thirds of their population are under thirty. The growth in Muslim population across the world is phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/Q8SUd2-BCl8\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At first glance, YC-backed Muzmatch\u2018s dating app might look best described as a \u2018Tinder for Muslims\u2019. 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