fremont california u.s. 2007 2007 founder alex mehr shayan zadeh brad henrickson john smart headquarters san francisco california united states area served worldwide services online dating service revenue us 178.23 million 2013 net income us 2.62 million 2013 number of employees 174 april 2014 1 website zoosk.com zoosk is an online dating service available in 25 languages and in more than 80 countries . 2 the founders of the company are shayan zadeh and alex mehr who ran the company until december 2014 . 3 after struggles that year kelly steckelberg became the company s new ceo . 4 contents 1 history 2 product 3 funding 4 pricing model 5 awards and recognition 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit zoosk launched in december 2007 . its co founders shayan zadeh and alex mehr were the company s original ceos . 5 6 7 zadeh and mehr met as undergraduates at sharif university of technology in iran and travelled to the us together to attend graduate school at the university of maryland . 8 zadeh worked at microsoft after graduating with a master s degree from university of maryland in computer science which is part of the university of maryland college of computer mathematical and natural sciences . mehr earned his master s degree and phd and later worked for nasa . mehr attended business school at the university of california at berkeley but he dropped out to work on zoosk . 9 in april 2014 zoosk filed s 1 paperwork for an initial public offering as it seeks to raise 100 million in capital . 10 in the s 1 the company reported 2013 revenues of 178.2 million a 63 % increase over the previous year and that it had cut losses 87 % to 2.6 million . 10 it has 27 million members 3 of which 650 000 were paying subscribers and its membership was growing 44 % year over year . 10 11 zoosk had reached the position of no. 1 grossing dating app and a top 25 grossing app on the apple ios app store . 11 despite 200 million in revenue collected in 2014 as well as a profit the previous year zoosk lost money in 2014 . this is due to the company overspending on expansion and overhiring . the company was also operating on the start up principle that profits do not matter . with these problems at the company zoosk canceled its ipo in december . in january 2015 they laid off 15 % of their staff . to improve revenue the company decided in november 2014 to require a paid membership to send messages . 4 product edit zoosk has an ios and android app and a desktop chat client . zoosk uses big data and algorithmic recommendations technology to help users find partners . 11 its proprietary behavioral matchmaking engine learns from users clicks messaging and other actions to help produce more accurate matches . 11 the idea is that the more data zoosk obtains from its users the better its recommendations can be . 11 in august 2014 zoosk added its photo verification service designed to prevent users from posting photos of themselves when they were 10 years younger or 20 pounds lighter . 12 to verify a photo users are asked to take a video selfie in order to record their appearance from multiple angles . zoosk moderators then determine if the user s profile photo and video match . when they do the user receives a green check next to his or her photos . 12 the feature was released first to the zoosk ios app followed by android . 13 zoosk users are aged 18 and older . 14 it uses gamification and popularity rankings to encourage participation . funding edit zoosk s investors include bessemer venture partners ata ventures and canaan partners . 6 the company has raised more than 60 million in equity . 11 pricing model edit until november 2014 zoosk charged no fee to start using the app and to send one message to another person . since november 2014 contact and interaction beyond the first message per person requires a premium i.e. paid subscription . 4 15 awards and recognition edit in 2014 zoosk was named to the inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in america ranking no. 1660 . 16 in 2014 the san francisco business times also named shayan zadeh to its 40 under 40 list of bay area entrepreneurs . 17 the wall street journal ranked zoosk no. 29 on its the next big thing 2011 the top 50 venture funded companies list up from the no. 42 spot the previous year . 5 6 about.com s 2011 reader s choice awards named zoosk s iphone app a finalist in its best dating app competition . 18 according to appappeal in august 2012 zoosk was the fifth most popular dating app in the world and the third in the u.s. 19 in 2012 the company also won an effie award for its advertising campaign online dating your way . 20 21 see also edit comparison of online dating websites references edit best places to work 2014 . website . retrieved 5 may 2014 . what is zoosk . website . zoosk . retrieved 3 may 2014 . a b form s 1 . form s 1 registration statement . sec.gov . retrieved 28 may 2014 . a b c roberts daniel march 25 2015 . meet the woman tasked with saving zoosk . fortune . retrieved april 6 2015 . a b the next big thing 2011 the top 50 venture funded companies the wall street journal accessed september 6 2012 a b c kincaid jason zoosk lands another 30 million for social dating the washington post accessed september 6 2012 zoosk profile crunchbase accessed september 6 2012 online dating website zoosk files for ipo of up to 100m . fox business network . 2014 . retrieved may 11 2014 . shayan zadeh & alex mehr interview vimeo accessed september 6 2012 a b c bercovici jeff 16 april 2014 . zoosk files for ipo ; here s what you need to know . forbes . retrieved 3 may 2014 . a b c d e f lawler ryan 16 april 2014 . online dating site zoosk files for 100m ipo with 178m in revenues and a 2.6 m net loss in 2013 . techcrunch . retrieved 3 may 2014 . a b lapowsky issie 21 august 2014 . this dating site is teaching the internet an important lesson about anonymity . wired . retrieved 26 november 2014 . moscaritolo angela 21 august 2014 . avoid getting catfished with zoosk photo verification . pc magazine . retrieved 26 november 2014 . crunchbase . crunchbase . crunchbase . retrieved 26 november 2014 . do i have to pay zoosk help . zoosk.zendesk.com . 2011 01 11 . retrieved 2014 08 10 . inc. 5000 2014 . inc.com . inc. retrieved 26 november 2014 . staff . shayan zadeh ceo and co founder zoosk . website . retrieved 3 may 2014 . best dating app readers choice award 2011 finalists . about.com . retrieved september 9 2012 the most popular dating app per country appappeal accessed september 10 2012 effie zoosk archived august 26 2012 at the wayback machine . effie worldwide accessed september 9 2012 effie awards advertising educational foundation accessed september 10 2012 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title zoosk & oldid 743700671 categories 2007 establishments in californiaamerican companies established in 2007companies based in san franciscointernet properties 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