Urban Swan, the RedBalloon of gen Z dating, scores $2 million seed funding
Gen Z date startup, Urban Swan, has exclusively revealed $2 million in seed funding to SmartCompany. That will certainly buy an overpriced Sydney cocktail or two.
Gen Z dating startup Urban Swan has exclusively revealed $2 million in seed funding to SmartCompany. That will certainly buy an overpriced Sydney cocktail or two.
The funding is being led by early-stage VC fund Antler. Antler was also a pre-seed investor and this will be its third investment in the business. Urban Swan has also received undisclosed amounts from angel investors who wish to remain anonymous.
Currently focused on Sydney, the cash injection will help fund its expansions to other major Australian cities in 2023. The Urban Swan website already has Melbourne listed so our guess is that it’s next.
Okay I’ll bite, what is Urban Swan?
Urban Swan was founded by Dean Gruskin, Joshua Israeli, and Jason Sun in 2021. It taps into the ‘experience economy’ that has become increasingly popular with millennials and gen Z thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
There has been a demand for interesting and fun experiences that go beyond bars and restaurants. Urban Swan cited some of its most popular dates include axe throwing, pottery classes and infrared saunas.
“Our generation are digital natives. We broadcast our whole lives digitally, including dates. Hash-tag ‘couple goals’ has over 200 billion views on TikTok. It’s inspired people to get out and about to experience all the great activities, events and venues Sydney has to offer,” co-founder Dean Gruskin said to SmartCompany.
And the numbers reflect the trend. According to recent ING data, Australians have almost quadrupled the amount they spend on dates since 2017. $42.8 billion has been spent on romance in the last year alone.
According to Urban Swan, 72% of the customers are aged 18-35 and they’re spending an average of $150 per experience.
As for the company itself, it’s reminiscent of RedBalloon, which has been a powerhouse of experience curation in Australia. Urban Swan does a similar thing, but specifically for dates.
While it’s a website at the moment, SmartCompany understands that app development is on the company’s roadmap.
Considering the millennial and gen Z focus, this certainly makes sense. There are no hard dates for an app launch at the present time.
Despite being live for less than a year, the platform boasts hundreds of thousands of customers, as well as the recent seed raise. The company has stated that its month-on-month repeat purchases have grown by 250% in 2022.
And the company plans to grow even further with this investment round.
“We’ve been impressed with Urban Swan’s traction in curating unique dating experiences for thousands of couples across Sydney in under a year and Antler is pleased to back their national expansion with follow-on investment,” Cath Rogers, partner at Antler, said.
“Beyond the dating realm, we also see potential for Urban Swan to expand into adjacent segments. Dean, Jason and Josh have developed, scaled and iterated the product rapidly and shown incredible hustle.”
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