Blackdivine

What Blackdivine does

Blackdivine is a privately held US-based internet technology group founded in 2009 by Ravy Truchot (founder, president & CEO), operating from dual headquarters in Miami, Florida (1101 Brickell Ave, South Tower, ste. 800) and New York (60 Broad Street, ste. 3502). The group runs three branded lines: a consumer internet business anchored by Gleeden, an extramarital dating app originally founded in France in 2009 that has reportedly scaled to over four million users across major Indian cities; Blackdivine Venture, the group's venture capital arm investing selectively in early-stage, tech-driven consumer internet startups; and the Blackdivine Startup Lab, a seed-stage incubator offering "smart money" — capital combined with operational support, technical and marketing talent-sharing, and access to a curated network of service providers and corporate decision-makers. The business model blends consumer subscription revenue (Gleeden), early-stage equity investment returns (Venture), and incubator support economics (Startup Lab), with portfolio companies given access to office space at the Miami headquarters and preference given to founders willing to operate from Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, or London. The company is small (11-50 employees), discloses no external funding rounds or revenue figures, and is presently exposed to a regulatory action in India via the National Human Rights Commission regarding Gleeden.

Name

Blackdivine

Legal name

Blackdivine

Website

https://blackdivine.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Blackdivine is a US-based private internet technology group operating a consumer dating app (Gleeden), a selective early-stage venture capital arm (Blackdivine Venture), and a seed-stage startup lab, serving founders in consumer internet and end users in select markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Blackdivine is an internet technology group that combines a venture capital arm (BD Venture / Blackdivine Venture) with a seed-stage startup lab to invest in and support early-stage tech-driven consumer internet startups. In parallel, it owns and operates consumer digital products including the Gleeden extramarital dating app, and provides strategic digital transformation services underpinned by an internet technology platform that crafts digital experiences for users worldwide.

Product overview

Blackdivine operates as a strategic creative and digital transformation company offering a portfolio of products. The core offering is Blackdivine itself, a cutting-edge internet technologies platform specializing in digital experiences. Supporting this are BD Venture (Blackdivine Venture), the investment arm providing early-stage VC funding with a hybrid model of strategic capital and hands-on operational support, and the Startup Lab, which functions as a seed-stage incubator for visionary companies. The portfolio also includes Gleeden, an extramarital dating app acquired from France (2009) with significant presence in the Indian market. Together, these offerings span digital products, venture investment, and startup acceleration services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BD Venture: Seed-stage VC and startup lab initiative by Blackdivine focused on early-stage investments in tech-driven consumer internet startups.
• Blackdivine Venture
• Blackdivine Startup Lab

Products and services

• BD Venture (Blackdivine Venture) Early-stage venture capital and hands-on operational support service for tech-driven consumer internet startups; combines smart capital with strategic resources, network access, and operational expertise for seed-stage founders. Targeted at founders of early-stage consumer internet companies.
• Blackdivine Startup Lab Seed-stage startup lab/accelerator that invests smart capital in visionary companies and provides experience, insight, and hands-on expertise to fuel growth. Targeted at visionary founders of seed-stage companies.
• Gleeden Extramarital dating mobile application that enables discreet dating connections; owned by Blackdivine Group and targeted at adult consumers, with significant user base in India (over four million users).

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Match Group: Global leader in dating apps (Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Match.com). Directly comparable consumer-internet dating business at vastly greater scale, including exposure to India through Tinder and Hinge; sets the benchmark for Gleeden's monetization and geographic expansion.
• ParshipMeet Group: European online dating conglomerate (Parship, ElitePartner, eharmony, MeetMe). Comparable multi-brand, multi-region dating operator with similar selective-matching and subscription monetization model.

Direct peers

• Bumble Inc. Operator of Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz dating apps with significant India and international presence. Closest public-market peer in the relationship-discovery category where Gleeden competes.
• Spark Networks (PE-owned): Operator of Zoosk, EliteSingles, SilverSingles, and other relationship-focused apps. Comparable niche-dating operator competing for similar paying user cohorts across multiple geographies.
• Aisle (Aisle Network Pvt. Ltd.): India-focused dating and matchmaking app targeting urban Indian singles, with overlapping positioning in long-term relationship discovery in the same metros where Gleeden reports 4M+ Indian users.
• TrulyMadly: India-based dating app focused on serious relationships, directly overlapping with Gleeden's core Indian user base across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi. Closest regional direct competitor.
• Inner Circle: Selective, members-only dating app expanding across Europe and into the US. Comparable positioning to Gleeden's selective, subscription-based dating proposition for relationship-seeking users.

Emerging players

• Betaworks: NYC-based seed-stage investor and startup studio operating a hybrid 'camp' + fund model similar to Blackdivine Venture/Startup Lab. Comparable thesis, stage, and operational support offering for early-stage consumer internet companies.
• Lerer Hippeau: Seed-stage VC firm in NYC investing primarily in consumer internet and media startups with hands-on operational support. Closest US analog to BD Venture's selective, founder-focused thesis.
• Betaworks Studios / Prehype: Venture studio building and incubating consumer-facing startups with operational involvement analogous to Blackdivine's Startup Lab. Comparable hybrid investor-operator model at similar early-stage scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/blackdivinecorp
• Facebookfacebook.com/blackdivine.corp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blackdivine-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Blackdivine