Zoosk is a dating social network that has been growing at a rapid pace.  The social network has about 40 million users across 40 countries.  This attracted investors to plug in $30 million as part of their Series D round of funding.  Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, and ATA Ventures.  David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners is joining the Zoosk board of directors as a result.  The funding will be used for marketing, expansion, and other new features.

“Zoosk has been redefining the online dating experience since we launched nearly two years ago, and singles around the world have embraced our fun, safe, and social network-driven approach,” stated Zoosk co-founder and CEO Shayan Zadeh in a press release. “We are thrilled to begin our partnership with David Cowan and Bessemer Venture Partners as we work with our investors and Board to take advantage of the incredible opportunities for growth in the online dating space.

The company has about a $30 million run rate based on revenue from Premium Memberships.  Zoosk also earns revenue from virtual goods and advertising.  Zoosk is based in San Francisco and started in January 2007 by Zadeh and Alex Mehr.

Zoosk is a Web 2.0 dating social network that is based San Francisco, Calif.   Zoosk proclaims themselves as the world’s largest social dating community.  On February 13 and 14, they will be offering two days of free communication to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

“Millions of our users are looking to connect with potential dates for Valentine’s Day, and we’re thrilled to offer the entire Zoosk community the enhanced connection privileges of our Premium Membership at no cost to them on February 13 and 14,” stated Alex Mehr, the co-CEO of Zoosk. “Finding a Valentine’s date can be as simple as logging onto your social network, checking your Zoosk Date Card, and connecting with someone you find appealing.”  Anyone that signs up for Zoosk on either one of those dates will also be able to take advantage of the free communication offer.

A lot of Zoosk’s growth was due to their Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Friendster, and MySpace application.   Zoosk interconnects within all of these social networks, meaning a Facebook user on the Zoosk application can communicate with a Zoosk user on MySpace.  About 228 million connections have been made using Zoosk.  This includes virtual winks, flirts, etc.  These virtual gifts can be distributed using the purchase of Zoosk coins.  These virtual items are similar to Facebook Gifts.  Zoosk’s virtual gifts have tripled in the last month.

Zoosk has seen tremendous growth in terms of upgrading from free membership to Premium level.  Premium members can respond to any flirts and can be contacted by any Zoosk member.  Premium memberships are about $24.95 per month.  Three month and six month has discounted rates.

“We receive stories everyday from users who share with us how Zoosk has made it easy for them to meet and connect with someone special for a date or long-lasting relationship,” added Mehr. “Many never expected they would find a love interest through a social network, but Zoosk’s unique ability to connect people within the context of their online social networks makes it not only possible, but fun, to meet others in that way.”

Zoosk raised about $4.1 million in funding last June.

“We have quickly become the dominant player in the social dating space and we plan to continue to rapidly expand our user base across even more social networks,” stated Shayan Zadeh, a co-CEO at Zoosk and former program manager at Microsoft. “We allow people to seamlessly connect across multiple social networks, for example a Facebook user can interact with a MySpace user, and this ability has given us unprecedented access to today’s young, single professionals. Our new funds will allow us to expand our network of subscribers and add even more new features that will make the social dating experience even more fun and less painful.”

Zoosk, a dating social network based in San Francisco, Calif. has raised $4.1 million in it’s second round of funding recently.  The $4.1 round of funding was led by Canaan Partners.  ATA Ventures also participated in this round.  Zoosk is built around application widgets that help users connect based on interests and preferences.

The company was started in 2007 and receives roughly 400,000 daily uniques, 1 million messages sent per day, and 3 million dating profiles on Zoosk network.

Zoosk has plenty of competition.  The funding new comes shortly after WooMe, a video dating social network raised $12.5 million.  Match.com has also created an application of their own called Little Black Blackbook: Are You Interested?  On Facebook alone, there are over 1,745 Dating Applications.  So clearly a dating application is not unique.  Fortunately for Zoosk, they have the user numbers to back up the quality of their app.

Information Source:
[1] Zoosk Press Release via PR Web