Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
VC Reveals The 'Most Sought After Startup Deals Right Now'
VC Reveals The 'Most Sought After Startup Deals Right Now'
Alyson ShontellMar 7, 2013, 23:30 IST
Many startups are having a difficult time convincing investors to give them money right now.But as any investor will tell you, the best startups are having no problem getting funding.So, which new companies are attracting VC dollars in droves?"Tinder and Wanelo are the most sought after deals right now," one says.Tinder is a mobile app for single people that is highly addictive. It allows users to create quick profiles by logging into Facebook. It pulls in their five most recent profile pictures as well as their age and "about me" section. Then, it shows other users who live within a five-mile radius of that user the person's profile. They can either "heart" or "X" the person with the press of a button, and the next user's picture pops up. It's a lot like Hot or Not with the goal of matching people who find each other attractive.So far, Tinder profiles have been rated 1.5 billion times. If you live in New York or Silicon Valley, you won't have to peruse Tinder for long before an investor's face pops up. We ran into angel investor David Tisch while doing a walk-through of the app. (He's newly married, so it's pretty clear he was doing research).The founders recently told The New York Times that 20 million matches have been made on its app, and it's downloaded 20,000 times per day. With numbers like that, it's not surprising investors are trying to get a piece of the Los Angeles-based company, although one tells us they think it could be a fad, like video startup Chat Roulette.Unfortunately, investors will have to deal with IAC if they want a piece of Tinder. Tinder was incubated in Hatch Labs, a startup accelerator backed by IAC, which owns Match.com. [See also: Tinder, The Judgmental And Addictive Dating App That's Sweeping College Campuses]CrunchbaseDeena Varshavskaya, founder and CEO of WaneloAnother startup that's getting a lot of attention is Wanelo. It's Pinterest for shoppers. Unlike Pinterest, every item on the site can be purchased. The items are displayed as a series of beautiful photos of clothing, shoes and more. The pictures can be sorted into detailed searches, such as "glitter" "feathers" and "turquoise." A quick glance at Wanelo's ComScore numbers show it's about half the size of Fab.com (which has more than 10 million users and raised $170 million). It's larger than The Fancy, a site that is backed by Jack Dorsey and recently partnered with Google +.While it's still unclear what valuation Tinder will receive, Wanelo is raising a round at a valuation higher than $100 million (TechCrunch first reported it, our sources confirmed it). Sequoia was one of the firms circling the startup.A third startup that's getting big money and attention right now is Nike Fuelband alternative, Fitbit. Fitbit is a sleep and activity tracker that displays how many steps a person takes in a day, how many flights of stairs they climb and more. It displays the data both online and in a mobile app. Fitbit is reportedly raising $30 million at a $300 million+ valuation.
