Tinder to Give Benchmark Equity Stake

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Tinder has announced that San Francisco VC firm Benchmark has taken an equity stake in the dating app and General Partner Matt Cohler will become a director.

The size of the stake was not disclosed, though a source confirmed that no money was invested by Benchmark. An earlier report had said Benchmark was leading a $50 million to $75 million investment round that would value the Venice startup upward of $1 billion.

Representatives of Tinder and Benchmark could not be reached for comment.

Cohler, whose resume includes exec stints at Facebook and LinkedIn, has led Benchmark investments in a number of startup success stories such as Dropbox, Instagram and Uber.

Tinder launched out of Hatch Labs in 2012, an incubator financed by InterActivCorp, which continues to hold a controlling stake in the app. The dating startup falls under IAC subsidiary Match Group, along with the Internet giant’s other online dating businesses Match.com, OKCupid and Chemistry.com.

It’s that parent relationship that has previously kept outside investors at bay.

Tinder, which uses a “yes or no” swiping mechanism to make matches, said it processes more than 1 billion swipes and makes more than 12 million matches a day.

“Benchmark brings to Tinder unparalleled experience in the consumer Internet space,” said Sean Rad, Tinder’s co-founder and chief executive, in a statement. “I’m excited about the contributions my long-time mentor Matt and the Benchmark team can make to our continued growth.”

Staff reporter Melissah Yang can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MelissahYang for the latest in L.A. tech news.

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