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Engage.com, the Internet dating company which gets your friends to help pitch prospective dates for you, said today it has raised $5 million in a first round of funding.
We wrote about this company a year ago. The good part is, new members who are daters will receive a free six-month membership, or a $200 value -- at least while Engage remains in testing mode. Basically, it divides you into two groups. 1) All adults, single or married, are welcome to play matchmaker, and help their single friends find that special one. It will always be free to be a matchmaker; 2) Only singles can be daters. If you are single, you can be a dater and a matchmaker.
It is difficult to tell how well this company is doing. We haven't seen any signs of major pick-up in Engage.com's traffic, at least via the unreliable data offered by Alexaholic.com. However, the company tells us it has over 200 percent growth in month over month new registrations (April, 270%; May; 202%; June; 267%), and Alexaholic show traffic hitting more significant levels most recently.
Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) led the round, with current seed investors Revolution Ventures, The Founders Fund and Josh Kopleman also participating. Steve Baloff, a general partner at ATV, will take a seat on the Engage board.