I came across Patriot Dating, a great niche site to either embrace, or avoid, depending on your geo-political perspective. I can’t imagine talking about love of country on a first date, but still, an untapped (until now) market.
Redemption clock for eHarmony is ticking: Two of eHarmony Inc’s main backers, Technology Crossover Ventures and Sequoia Capital, stand to gain extra leverage over the online-dating company in early November when redemption rights from its last financing round kick in. The firms were part of a group of investors who pumped $110 million into eHarmony in 2004.
ChirpMe launches A Dating Site For Activities–And Groupons. The startup is participating in and funded by the 500Startups accelerator program. ChirpMe sources deals from 200 daily deals sites, from a golf driving range session to sky diving.
“ChirpMe is a site about meeting people around hobbies and activities you enjoy doing,” Viner says. “Essentially we’re turning Groupons into dates.” More at Forbes.
ChirpMe gets affiliate fees when people buy the deals. ChirpMe also is seeding free activities that are not tied to a deal, such as, “Lets go to the Stanford fields and kick the ball around!” or a free concert at the San Jose Jazz Festival.
Naturally Curly Network is a social network for people with curly hair. The site just raised a $1.2 million round from angel investors. The site previously raised $2 million; investors in the latest round include John Paul Mitchell Systems co-founder John Paul DeJoria and angel network Golden Seed. More at Business Insider.
Sprouter Weekly is a free newsletter for entrepreneurs around the world highlighting founders, hot startups, content & events. Sprouter has a an interview with Lavalife Co-Founder Bruce Croxon, who talk about the history of Lavalife. Croxon recently joined the Canadian version of the popular show Dragons’ Den, which sees entrepreneurs pitch a panel of investor ‘Dragons’ who have the opportunity to invest in their business (or to let them down, and not always gently).
Sony redesigns its PlayStation Home virtual world as a social game hub: I have written about Sony Home and its potential as a dating platform in the past. VentureBeat.
Dating In A Virtual World: Massively Multiplayer Game Users Find Real-Life Love. 3D adult virtual worlds? Ok!
