Shaadi.com is an Indian online wedding service founded in 1997. Its core market is

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, but it operates globally, with offices in

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, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, the

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, the

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Overview

Shaadi.com began as Sagaai.com in 1997. Its founder, Anupam Mittal, changed its name to Shaadi.com in 1999, believing it to be a more marketable name. Its initial success was primarily among

non-resident Indian Overseas Indians ( IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of In ...

s, as Internet adoption across India was poor at the time, and conservative parents were hesitant to arrange marriages through a new

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

. Despite some early personnel troubles, Shaadi.com saw success over the next fifteen years as Internet adoption increased and people became more receptive to online matchmaking. By 2008, it had become the world's leading matrimonial website for Asians, and had twenty million users by 2011. In addition to online matchmaking, Shaadi.com runs over one hundred Shaadi Centres, retail outlets that offer matrimony-related services. The first was opened in Mumbai in 2004. In 2009 it collaborated with

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

to produce India's first marriage-based

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show. In 2012 Shaadi.com launched the

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

Angry Brides ''Angry Brides'' is an online Adobe Flash, flash-based browser game on Facebook. It was launched by the matchmaking site Shaadi.com to help raise awareness of dowry harassment in India. Background In India, dowry is the payment in cash or oth ...

'' to bring awareness to dowry abuses in India. In 2014, Shaadi.com launched Shaadi Cares, a social initiative to educate people regarding marital issues, including dowry and

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. In 2016, Shaadi.com acquired Thrill Group, a startup that included two dating products, Frivil and Fropper, founded by expat entrepreneurs Josh Israel and Devin Serago.

Recognition

* '' Business Today'' highlighted Shaadi.com as one of India's ten best marketers in 2007. * Shaadi.com was chosen for The Best Hindu Matrimonial Website category in

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

's 2011 Readers' Choice Awards. * Shaadi.com placed silver in the "Best Use of Ecommerce - Self (own) brands Product/ Services" category of the 2012 Indian Digital Media Awards. * ''

'' placed silver in the "Social Media - Best Use/Campaign on Social Network - Social Cause" category of the 2013 Indian Digital Media Awards.

References

External links

* {{official website, www.shaadi.com Indian matrimonial websites Internet properties established in 1997

Overview

Recognition

See also

References

External links