JSwipe

JSwipe is an online dating application targeted at Jewish singles. It was launched in April 2014, over the Passover holiday, by founder David Yarus and three co-founders under the business entity name Smooch Labs. Yarus, who was also working for Birthright Israel and Hillel at the time of JSwipe’s creation, initially viewed the app as a lark before seeing the development of the Jewish dating app as combining his professional interests, passion, and expertise.Initial funding for the app came from a group of young successful Jewish entrepreneurs. A staff of eight employees worked in Brooklyn on the app. After launch, use of the app grew rapidly in the global Jewish community, with more than 165,000 users by January 2015, 250,000 by March 2015, 375,000 by August 2015, 450,000 by October 2015, and 800,000 by October 2016. By October 2015, more than 40 million messages had been exchanged between users, and, by October 2016, there were more than 100 million swipes, 4 million matches, and 1 million messages each month. It has added freemium features for greater messaging, preference signaling, visibility, and virtual location movement.The app has resulted in a number of marriages.JSwipe and its parent, Smooch Labs, were acquired by competitor JDate’s parent Spark Networks in October 2015, ending contentious litigation between the two outfits.