Written by Chris Albrecht
Posted Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 8:53 AM PT

 

WooMe Woos Another $3 Million

Online speed dating site WooMe said today it’s received a $3 million bridge round of financing led by Mangrove, along with previous investors Atomico (founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis), Klaus Hammels and newcomer Oliver Jung. This builds on the initial $1.9 million in seed funding WooMe previously raised.

The service launched 10 weeks ago at NewTeeVee Live, and while WooMe won’t say exactly how many registered users it has, Co-founder and CEO Stephen Stokols says WooMe has facilitated more than 35,000 sessions so far. (Check out our previous coverage to learn more about sessions and how WooMe works.) According to Stokols, the company is running about a thousand sessions a day, and roughly 3.5 sessions per person per week, with the average user spending seven minutes on the site, a number that has doubled in the last month.

WooMe will use the bridge round to continue to build out and hone the service. They’ve made some tweaks already. Sessions used to be scheduled out in advance, but users wanted more immediate gratification, so sessions can now be scheduled for three minutes from now instead of three hours from now. Additionally, users didn’t like that they only had one minute per person, so now they can control the time allotted with each participant. And WooMe is looking to build IM features into the service so people don’t have to log off and then fire up AIM or Messenger to continue talking.

The company plans on generating revenue through the sale of “WooCredits,” which can be used to unlock contact information of two “Wooers,” and through session sponsorships.

Stokols said this bridge round gives them some breathing room before going after another $8 million to $10 million later this year.

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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Chris, do you remember that time when you tried speed dating?

    Matt Brown-Reugg on February 7th, 2008 at 11:15 am - Permalink

  2. Rejection is so much easier when it’s done so quickly.

    Chris Albrecht on February 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am - Permalink

  3. I found WooMee to be different from others I have tried. I like it’s design and features. No doubt this site will be one of the major players in online dating. Wish I thought of it! LOL Also saw the WooMe presentation – very cool, espacially like the fact that people are using the speed platform. Thats nice to see.

    CindyM on April 27th, 2008 at 10:39 pm - Permalink

  4. [...] had previously raised about $5 million. The company launched at our NewTeeVee Live conference last November. Previous investors in the [...]

    WooMe Raises Funding « NewTeeVee on June 11th, 2008 at 6:53 am - Permalink

  5. [...] According to Stokols, they had facilitated 35,000 sessions, as of February 2008. Stokols also claims that they run about 1,000 sessions per day, and the average user participates in 3.5 sessions per week. [...]

    Silicon Calley » Blog Archive » WooMe Woos Index Ventures to The Tune of $12 Million on June 11th, 2008 at 9:22 pm - Permalink

  6. [...] According to Stokols, they had facilitated 35,000 sessions, as of February 2008. Stokols also claims that they run about 1,000 sessions per day, and the average user participates in 3.5 sessions per week. [...]

    TechNews.LA » WooMe Woos Index Ventures to The Tune of $12 Million on September 1st, 2008 at 12:50 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] has been focused on European startups. Index’s recent investments include RightScale and WooMe. (Related post: Return of Danny [...]

    Index Ventures Raises New $442 MM Fund | The Click on March 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] has been focused on European startups. Index’s recent investments include RightScale and WooMe. (Related post: Return of Danny Rimer.) [...]

    Index Ventures Raises New $442 MM Fund on March 3rd, 2009 at 5:49 am - Permalink

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