Coffee Meets Bagel: Is This New Dating Site Worth More Than $30 Million?

Coffee Meets Bagel has risen quickly since its launch two years ago to become one of the most talked about dating sites around.

The website, which is based in San Francisco, was created by three South Korean sisters - Arum, Dawoon and Soo Kang - who are living in the US.

Unlike other dating sites, Coffee Meets Bagel reportedly works by matching you with people you have a mutual friend with on Facebook. The site sends you one match (or bagel) at noon each day, which you can 'like', 'pass', or 'give' to a friend.

The Kang sisters told Heavy that the idea to create the site came from a personal need. The site was reportedly designed to connect people with "real" potential love interests.

Kang said after trying out other dating sites, which she found to be 'perverted', 'spammy' 'creepy' and 'unsafe', she and her sisters decided to develop their own venture.

According to the sisters, Coffee Meets Bagel was created after painstaking research and analysis of other dating sites. They say the fact that the site is designed to send one match each day to users makes the dating process more effective.

"You get frustrated at having to take the time to weed through hundreds of different profiles to find the people you like. You end up wasting a lot of time and resources in this model," Kang said.

Coffee Meets Bagel was featured in TIME'S '10 Apps for People Who Want to Fall in Love' late last year.

On Tuesday, Coffee Meets Bagel officially launched its Android mobile application, and on Friday, the Kang sisters appeared on ABC's Shark Tank to gather some investment for their venture.

The sisters were offering a 5% stake in their company for $500,000. Reports indicate that they have generated more than $2 million since embarking on a fund raising drive to support the expansion of the company.

While on Shark Tank the Tang sisters surprisingly refused to disclose how many users they had. But even more surprising, they turned down a $30 million offer for the company from panelist Mark Cuban.

Critics say the Tang sisters know the potential value of Coffee Meets Bagel is beyond that figure. Cofee Meets Bagel currently operates in just three cities - San Francisco, New York and Boston. While it is just 2 years old and has only recently launched its mobile app, Coffee Meets Bagel has been compared to Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, OK Cupid and Plenty of Fish.

It is too early to tell if Coffee Meets Bagel will stick around. All we can say is good luck finding that "bagel."

Watch the Kang sisters on Shark Tank below.

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