Indian dating app Woo marries US counterpart Dus, aims to go international

Dus' co-founder calls it 'the brown Tinder', reports Tech in Asia

Time was when Indian techies in the US were much in demand in the marriage market. We’re not sure if it will be the same after Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigrant workers — including a reversal on allowing spouses to join H-1B visa holders.

But the United States has over 4 million people who have their roots in India. They like to stay connected with their motherland. And that includes online dating across borders, especially for those on the hunt for spouses from back home.

This is the hypothesis behind popular Indian dating app Woo’s acquisition of Dus, a dating app for the South Asian community in the US. “While originally designed for India alone, we quickly realised that our platform had a global appeal for Indians internationally to form a connect back to their homeland,” says Sumesh Menon, co-founder of Woo.

Dus CEO Shawn Sheikh concurs. “Our goal has always been to promote freedom of choice when it comes to dating, along with generally helping Desis meet each other. The Woo acquisition will provide us with the resources to continue to do just that.”

Indian-Canadian comedian Jus Reign, one of the co-founders of Dus, calls it “the brown Tinder”. Apart from being a catchphrase, it suggests an affinity with the cultural sensibilities of the South Asian community, where dating is a stigma. Privacy and safety have therefore been priorities of Dus, which was started in 2015.

Woo, born in 2014, has a similar orientation, aimed at giving women in particular the opportunity to make connections outside the construct of “arranged marriages” or marriage-oriented, objectified portals such as Shaadi.com. This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here