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Hinge and Elle hunt for Mumbai's most eligible

The collaboration will look for eligible young professionals in Mumbai, based on profession, passion, accomplishments and an algorithm that determines the most desirable in the network based on 'swipe-right' rate.

With dating now being as easy as a few finger-taps on the screen, dating apps are the new rage, replacing traditional online dating. Popular across United States and UK, Hinge - the global dating app - made its foray in Asia in March this year, with Mumbai as its city of choice.

With a view to grow its user base and reach out to potential users, Hinge has partnered with Elle India magazine to launch a marketing campaign titled 'Hinge's Most Eligible', mirroring the successful Hinge campaigns that have been held in San Francisco and Los Angeles, previously.

The campaign will involve a roll-out of the most eligible young professionals in Mumbai every few weeks on Elle.in/Hinge. Readers will have the chance to take compatibility quizzes on the app's microsite, to see if they can potentially get along with a sample of the city's best. The campaign will culminate in a complete 'Most Eligible' list, to be released towards the end of September.

Dubbed as 'a classier version of Tinder,' Hinge has become the go-to app for young professionals to meet in Mumbai. Globally, Hinge's 'Most Eligible' lists have included startup founders, CEOs, pro athletes and heads of industries.

Hinge and Elle hunt for Mumbai's most eligible
Speaking about the TG and the choice of Mumbai as the launch city, Samir Kapadia, India head of Hinge, says, "Mumbai is the cultural hub of India; hence, it was only natural to launch the app here. Our target group is 18-35 year old, single men and women living in this city. Young and driven professionals, they are not shy to go out and connect with people."

Launched in US in 2013, Hinge was founded with the mission to keep dating real. The app blends the best of meeting in the real world, with the power of social discovery. Using Facebook as the base to find people in one's extended social network, Hinge uses social proximity to create matches, as opposed to geo-location. It takes that pool of people and curates daily potential connections - based on behavioral preferences, such as careers choices. The result is an experience that feels much like meeting serendipitously through friends at a dinner party.

"Geo-location based applications rely on physical proximity. Social applications hinge on relationships, guiding users towards people they would have otherwise met based on their current network. That social element is what separates Hinge from the competitive landscape in a real way," Kapadia adds.

Globally, Hinge matches claim to have translated into 1,500 relationships across 29 markets in 2014, across continents, in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles New York, Washington D.C and London. Since its launch in India, the app has been able to initiate one lakh chats between users, informs Kapadia.

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