- Relationships
ByBernadette Roe
Coffee Meets Bagel, an online dating site, pitched its business on "Shark Tank" in 2015. The company was founded by three sisters: Arum Kang and Dawoon Kang, who are twins, and Soo Kang. The three sisters were born and raised in Korea and moved to the United States as teenagers. After graduating from college, the sisters started the dating website in 2011, after experiencing their own frustrations in finding love. What makes CMB so unique is that users get a few carefully curated matches every day at noon. Women get several "Bagels," or matches from men who have already liked their profile, so the woman knows she's getting men who are interested. This mitigates that overwhelming experience many find on other dating sites where the stream of potential matches seems endless. The app's target audience is singles who are looking for serious relationships.
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The Kang sisters designed their dating app to specifically appeal to single women, knowing that the men would follow if they knew that there was a site where women felt safe and comfortable. This is because many women know the pitfalls of modern dating. You can compromise too much on dating apps; women also have to be much more mindful of their safety on dating apps. So the Kang sisters wanted to make it as easy as possible for women to find a relationship. They arrived on "Shark Tank" asking for $500,000 in exchange for a 5% equity in their company. Here's what went down.
What happened to Coffee Meets Bagel on Shark Tank?
Sisters Soo, Dawoon, and Arum Kang appeared on "Shark Tank" in 2015 to pitch Coffee Meets Bagel to the sharks. They explained that they took the success of daily flash sale sites and merged it with the success of social networks to improve online dating. The Kang sisters explained that they chose the name so that people could speak covertly about dating. "I got a stale bagel today," they said, giving an example of the hidden language possible with CMB.
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The sharks were legitimately interested. The Kang sisters explained that all data is compiled through Facebook, including the element of mutual friendship that makes CMB so special. Interestingly, the sisters wouldn't give the exact number of users that they had on their site. They said it was between 100,000 and 500,000. Mark Cuban didn't like these hazy numbers, and he pulled out. They also had to disclose to the sharks that even with one million dollars in sales annually, they had negative profit. Robert Herjavec asked if the three sisters took a salary, and they disclosed that they each took home $100,000 annually. The sharks didn't like this either, and for these reasons, each shark pulled out. Finally, Cuban asked them, "If I gave you $30 million for the company, would you take it?" They said no, turning down a record offer on "Shark Tank." They left with no deal.
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What happened to Coffee Meets Bagel After Shark Tank?
Soo, Dawoon, and Arum Kang knew exactly what they were doing by going on "Shark Tank." They were well aware that appearing on the show would drive attention to their business. In 2019, Dawoon spoke with Ladders about why she and her sisters chose to pitch their brand to the show. "We were looking for a deal and exposure," Dawoon explained. "Shark Tank is great because it gives you both." While she didn't make a deal on "Shark Tank," Coffee Meets Bagel certainly got exposure!
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Ladders also asked Dawoon if she'd accept Mark Cuban's offer for $30 million if he were to make it again today. Dawoon firmly said "no" again. "Years later now, I don't think there's better timing for a service like CMB because of how the dating industry has evolved," she said. Even though none of the sharks made a deal with them, and they turned down Cuban's hypothetical offer of $30 million, Coffee Meets Bagel continued to grow. Dawoon told Ladders that in 2018 alone, CMB had doubled its users and raised $12 million. So the Kang sisters obviously continued to expand their business after "Shark Tank," and didn't need the sharks to support them after all.
Coffee Meets Bagel is still in business
Coffee Meets Bagel is still an active and thriving dating website, and the Kang sisters continue to take things to the next level. Their goal isn't to get users the most profiles to choose from; they're more interested in quality matches, making their priority their women users. While this has been their philosophy since the start, CMB had a few complaints from users. By far, prospective singles report better results on CMB in big cities. According to DatingAdvice.com, singles in major hubs like New York and Los Angeles enjoy the larger dating pool on CMB near them. Also, the site reported that Asian communities in big cities have the best feedback for CMB. However, prospective singles in more rural areas report more matches from other, larger dating websites.
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The Reddit page r/coffeemeetsbagel gives honest feedback from real users. The unanimous feedback was that CMB's app site crashed frequently, and seemed to crash most frequently over weekends. "It's so slow for me and [skipping] the line doesn't work. sigh really wished I hadn't paid 6 months sub for this app that doesn't work," one user wrote.
While many were complaining about the site itself, another person noted that they have had more luck with dates on CMB. "...CMB at least led to some real dates," they began. "Tinder and Bumble are horrible. Hinge ... lots of matches but no one responds or only sends 1-2 messages then it dies. The league is perhaps the worst of them all." So that's something.
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What's next for Coffee Meets Bagel?
Despite no match from the sharks on "Shark Tank," and a few glitches with their app, Coffee Meets Bagel continues to grow. According to DatingAdvice.com, the Kang sisters started hosting Coffee Meets Bagel Experiences in some of the big cities where they have a lot of members. Singles could gather at these in-person events, from 5k runs to adult summer camps. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a hitch in this, but the website notes that hopefully, things will kick off again soon.
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In July 2023, Forbes reviewed CMB and noted that the pros were that the dating site has put an end to the constant scrolling that's so common on other dating sites. This is great news for anyone with profile photo fatigue. However, Forbes also noted that CMB had fewer matches than other sites. While partially this is the whole point of CMB — they promise more carefully curated matches — this has been common feedback from people, so no doubt the Kang sisters and the rest of the team are eager to acquire more members.
CMB is very active online with a vibrant Instagram presence, where they showcase real-life couples who met on their site. They also offer relationship advice and memes about dating. All three sisters have CMB listed as their current place of employment on LinkedIn, so it's still in the family.So while the Kang sisters didn't land on "Shark Tank," they obviously did great on their own.
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