Member-only dating app CarpeDM raised $1.054 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed financing round, which will be used to further the company’s vision for a dating app that prioritizes meaningful connections over gamification — swipes right and left, for example.
The round was led by Elevate Capital with participation from Virginia Venture Partners, Conscious Venture Fund, Overlooked Ventures, Forefront Capital, Pipeline Angels, Gaingels and CAV Angels. Naza Shelley, co-founder and CEO of Woodbridge-based CarpeDM, plans to focus the funds on securing new customers and validating the platform through a more streamlined onboarding process. The goal is to balance the barrier of entry while maintaining the foundation of the service: high-quality, vetted, hand-curated matches for Black women.
“It’s of the utmost importance that we’re protecting Black women, that we’re elevating Black women, and we’re providing them an option that I personally think any single would want to use,”…
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