Mark Twain once professed: “When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.” While that may be sage advice for Canada’s 17 million singles looking to find their beloved, those doing the matchmaking need brainpower to make their love business thrive.
It’s hard to calculate the exact size of the North American dating industry since many companies are privately held, but a December 2010 report from research firm IBISWorld in Santa Monica, Calif., puts the U.S. dating industry for the year at US$2-billion. Fifty-four per cent of that was driven by online dating, followed by mobile dating, matchmakers, singles events and personal ads.
In Canada, online dating alone accounts for $200-million, according to industry estimates. As the month of love ends, FP Entrepreneur looks at some of the Canadian players who are giving love a helping hand… read on.