Two startups with the goal of keeping couples in love got hitched.
Arya, a relationship wellness AI startup, recently acquired Flamme, an app with activities for couples like quizzes and milestones, Business Insider has learned exclusively.
Arya and Flamme "complement each other," Arya's CEO, Offer Yehudai, told Business Insider.
While Flamme is for "day-to-day communication and prompts," Arya is focused on "emotional and physical intimacy," Yehudai said. Flamme and Arya are betting that the relationship tech category will be more sustainable than dating apps.
"The dating apps are built that if they're successful, their users end up leaving and they struggle from churn," Nayal said.
Arya uses AI (as well as human relationship coaches) to provide users with physical products and relationship advice.
The two platforms will continue to run as stand-alone experiences, but Arya will begin to integrate some of its tools into the Flamme app.
"What we bring to the table is very strong monetization," Yehudai added.
"I've been in this space for a while," Nayal said. "I realized I have a limitation. We tried to crack monetization. We could not."
Arya has two primary ways of making money: e-commerce and paywalled services, including intimacy coaching for couples. Its subscription, which includes a box of products like sex toys, starts at about $30 a month.
"People are awkward or embarrassed or just uneducated about their love life," Yehudai said. "That's where we step in."
Nayal said that Arya's existing structure and acquisition offer felt right for building "a bigger system for relationships."
Here's how the deal is set up:
- Arya is acquiring Flamme and its 200,000 users.
- The apps are not merging, and Flamme's team will continue working on Flamme part-time (while Nayal also works on building his next company, a consulting agency for consumer apps).
- Arya isn't disclosing a price for the deal, but Yehudai said it isn't "capped" and will be paid out based on "certain milestones" met by Flamme as it integrates Arya's monetization layers.
The acquisition of Flamme is Arya's first foray into its planned roll-up strategy, following its recent $21 million growth funding round. Since its founding in 2022, Arya has raised $37 million.
Yehudai said he's been eyeing Bending Spoons' roll-up strategy as a model. Italy-based Bending Spoons has acquired several companies, such as Vimeo, WeTransfer, and AOL.
Arya is eyeing other relationship apps to fold into its suite of tools, as well as period tracking and other women's health companies.
It started with a LinkedIn DM #
Like many professional relationships (and even some romantic ones), Arya and Flamme's founders got connected on LinkedIn.
Here's the exact DM Flamme's founder, Nayal, sent to Arya's CEO in June:
Subject: Hi from Flamme!Hey Offer! I'm An, founder of Flamme. Congratualtions ont eh raise, would love to connect and share insights we've got from 4 years in the inudstry.No ask, I just like making friends : )
(Business Insider reviewed a screenshot of the original message sent between the two.)
Sometimes a friendly first introduction leads to something more serious — like an acquisition.
After the first exchange, the two hopped on a call.
Charts are sexy #
It takes more than just good vibes, though, to nail a deal.
Yehudai told Business Insider that two slides stood out from Flamme's pitch deck — particularly those that showcased the startup's retention and usage.