Happn is the hopeless romantic among dating apps, though the concept can sound a little creepy at first.

A lot of apps like Tinder simply show you people within a few miles of you. Happn goes one step beyond: When you open it on your phone, you're greeted by a collection of other users with whom you've physically crossed paths with throughout your day.

While some people might be initially uneasy about the location-tracking nature of the app, Happn's founder and CEO says it's all about replicating the serendipity of real life.

"We wanted to bring back reality into the dating world," Happn founder and CEO Didier Rappaport told Business Insider. "We think that every day you cross paths with people, and most of them, you miss them, because you do not have the time to talk with them or because there was some missed connection."

Even the term "missed connection" likely conjures up images of cringe-worthy Craiglist posts, but Rappaport says he wanted to bring that concept into the modern age. And so Rappaport, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Dailymotion, decided to create his first app to act as a sort of hybrid between a travel log and Tinder. That way, when people noticed someone interesting on their daily commute or while sitting at their favorite coffee shop, they could open up Happn afterward if they missed their initial chance and have a second shot at striking up a conversation.

"When you meet someone, it is always at a precise place and at a precise moment," Rappaport said. "So the fact that on your device you have a geo-location service and your device is always with you, you’re always there in real time with your neighborhood and everyone around you."

When browsing Happn, you can see a timeline of every Happn user you've been near in the last few days, ranked chronologically and by the total time you've been around them. If you see someone you like, you can "heart" them secretly to indicate interest, but they won't be notified — you're only matched up if you both independently "heart" each other.

If you want to be a bit bolder and ensure that person knows you're interested, you can send them a "charm," which is essentially a push notification with a guaranteed delivery that costs between 10 and 20 cents.

Since your Happn timeline is arranged chronologically, a charm also guarantees that your encounter won't be lost among more recent encounters if that person traveled a lot that day.

"Security was one of the pillars of our thinking when we built Happn," Rappaport said when asked about the inherent location-tracking of Happn. "When you are very near someone, we will never say ‘You are 10 meters,’ we will say ‘You are less than 250 meters’ — you don’t have any flag on the maps. We don’t record the exact journeys of people, we just remember the crossing points."

Happn got its start in Paris, France, but has since expanded to 3 million registered users with strong followings in London and New York City. After raising a total of $8 million in a seed and Series A funding, Rappaport told Business Insider Happn "should close the Series B by this summer," and plans to continue to see growth increase at a faster pace.

"We reached our first million users in first 11 months, the second million after two and half months, and the third million within the following 50 days," Rappaport said. "We should be at least 10 million members by the end of this year."

Talking with Rappaport, it quickly became clear that while people have a habit of sitting and browsing dating apps like Tinder, Happns takes the stance that you should be living in the moment. And that while you can browse Happn while at a museum to see other people at the exhibit, the main idea is to be able to browse your encounters after you get back home. It's a subtle difference in use case than other hook-up apps like Tinder, whose users often make a game out of browsing the app and swiping through potential matches in any spare moment.

"There is a big difference between the past and the present in terms of romance," Rappaport said. "We are not offering people the ability to only make love, because in the past it was just a huge lie — there is no algorithm that makes finding your love because you checked the right boxes with someone else. We just provide people the ability to meet each other . You can only meet the people who are around you at the right time, at the same time, like you. It's very easy, simple in fact. People need a simple app to help them in their own life, that’s all."

You can download Happn for free for iOS over at the App Store and for Android over at Google Play.

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German dating app Spotted has raised a $14.5 million (£9.3 million) Series A round, TechCrunch reports, and will be using the funds to expand to the US, Korea and Japan. It also wants to get more users in Europe and North Africa, where it already operates. 

Spotted works in a similar way to French dating app Happn, which has proved to be a popular alternative to Tinder. It lets you get in touch with strangers you might have liked the look of when walking down the street, queueing for a coffee, or riding the bus.

The investment came from several German funds: Media Ventures, owned by Cologne media giant Dirk Ströer, Wolfman Holdings, run by professor Wolf M. Nietzer, and the Deutsche Balaton affiliate based in Heidelberg, Germany.

Spotted was launched in 2013, so actually predates Happn. But the French app has grown more quickly, and expects to hit 10 million users by the end of this year.

Spotted cofounder Tung Nguyen told TechCrunch that the app currently boasts about a million users and is getting about 3,000 downloads a day. Most users come from countries with plenty of German speakers, like Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but the app is also getting a lot of use in French-speaking markets like France, Canada, Algeria and Morocco.

Nguyen believes that Spotted's approach to dating is less "transactional" than on an app like Tinder, which is why he thinks that Spotted has managed to attract an "above average" number of female users.

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French dating app Happn has raised a $14 million (£9.2 million) Series B round, TechCrunch reports.

Alven Capital, DN Capital, Raine Ventures and business angels such as Fabrice Grinda, David Wolfson and Gil Penchina took part in the round. The company raised $8 million (£5.2 million) back in February.

Happn lets you get in touch with strangers you might have liked the look of when walking down the street, queueing for a coffee, or riding the bus, but didn't get the chance (or have the courage) to speak to in person. As an alternative to Tinder, it's supposed to bring some serendipity back to dating.

That idea seems to be going down well. Founder Didier Rappaport told Business Insider UK in February that the app had 700,000 monthly active users. Today it has 6 million users in 25 cities around the world, and expects to reach 10 million by the end of the year. TechCrunch writes that the company could move into Asia next — we've reached out to Happn to confirm.

Here's how Rappaport explained Happn to Business Insider earlier this year:

Happn puts the romanticism and spontaneity back into dating. You can use it when you meet someone and want to see them again. Or maybe you see them all the time but have never been able to say hello. Perhaps she/he works in the same area, or you met her at a party. You can discover the people around you. You might meet someone on the train and want to talk to them, but can't. Happn isn't a game. It's enriching. There's room for experimentation.

Happn's German rival Spotted raised a $14.5 million (£9.5 million) Series A round last month. Spotted was launched in 2013, so actually predates Happn. But the French app has grown more quickly that its German counterpart, which had a million users in August with around 3,000 downloads a day.

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Online dating has long been part of everyday life for millions of people, with over a quarter of new relationships in the UK now starting in the digital world. Particularly in recent years, the rise of smartphones has made meeting people online easier and faster than ever before.

The popularity of location-based mobile apps like Tinder, Grindr and Happn, which match people based on proximity, has risen exponentially.

Tinder, for example, has reportedly been downloaded more than 40m times globally since launching in September 2012, and its users collectively "swipe" profiles over 1bn times per day.

Happn, which launched in Paris in early 2014, claims to have 6.5m members worldwide – 700,000 of which are in the UK. The app connects people who have crossed paths in real life, allowing users to "seize everyday coincidences" and "avoid missed connections", according to the company.

"All of us have this fantasy – you see a beautiful lady in the street or on the subway, and you can't talk to her because she leaves too soon, or because you were feeling shy," said Didier Rappaport, founder and chief executive of Happn.

"Happn is an app for misconnection. You have seen someone who, for some reason, you couldn’t talk to. Thanks to Happn, if the other person has the app, you will be able to find them."

Rappaport, who previously co-founded video-sharing website Dailymotion, which is one of the biggest video platforms in the world, claims that the "real world" element is what distinguishes Happn from traditional dating websites, as well as mobile competitors like Tinder .

"Tinder is a huge company, and they have created a really brilliant concept – the swipe – but when you apply the swipe to the human being, you transform the human being into an object," he said. "We all know there is no algorithm that will make people fit with each other. We believe that love is a question of hazard. We believe that anything can happen when you’re not waiting for it."

Happn is growing exponentially. It took the company ten months to reach a million users, the second million took three months, and the third million took two. Now the company is signing up 1m new users per month, and expects to reach a total user base of 10m by the end of the year.

This week, the company closed a $14m Series B funding round led by Idinvest with participation from Alven Capital, DN Capital, Raine Ventures and private individuals Fabrice Grinda, David Wolfson and Gil Penchina. To date, the company has raised a total of $22m.

The new funding will be used to drive expansion into Asia – with launches planned in Manila, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong – and grow Happn's presence in Europe, South America and the United States.

"We believe that we are an app for major cities. It’s interesting that where you have a huge density of people, it is really difficult to meet people. Young people work so much, they don’t have time to do other things, so it’s a great help for them," said Rappaport.

"We have limited budget, so we have chosen first to target the major cities, but we know that the app will spread. London is our second biggest city, but the app is also used in Manchester and Liverpool, for example."

Rappaport said that his experience founding Dailymotion, which now has more than 2.5 billion videos viewed every month in 18 different languages, has forced him to always think internationally. The original testbeds for Happn were Paris, London and Berlin, and the app's success in all three cities proved to him that it could scale internationally.

However, location-based dating apps have not been without their controversies. Concerns have been raised over issues such as fraud and scams, the threat to users’ physical safety, and hidden or unexpected costs.

For example, Tinder recently came under fire for its "ageist" pricing policy, after it announced that over-28s would have to pay £14.99 a month for its premium service, while under-28s will only be charged £3.99 a month.

One of the more controversial aspects of Happn is its business model. Happn users interact by "liking" each other. Liking is a secret action, so users only know if they have liked each other if the "like" is mutual. However, they can also send "charms", which means the recipient get a notification.

While the app is completely free for women, men have to pay to send charms. Each charm costs one credit, and credits are available in packs of 10, 60, 100 and 300. You can buy 10 charms for $1.99 (£1.49) or up to 300 charms for £23.49.

This concept borrows from the idea of in-app purchasing, most commonly used in mobile gaming. However, Rappaport said he regrets making men pay for charms and not women.

"It’s a very, very difficult issue. I did that in the beginning because it was the way everyone was doing it – men pay; it’s the French way of life," he said. "But I think it’s not normal. I would love to change it, because if we are talking about equality between men and women, it shouldn’t be like that. Now we will not do it, because when you have a model it is very difficult to change it, but I would love to change it, believe me."

At the moment, charms paid for by men are Happn's only source of revenue, but from January 2016, it plans to introduce native advertising, which will take advantage of the company's location data.

The company has already been working with car company Fiat on an advertising campaign, which Rappaport said would not disturb the user experience.

"The company created profiles – Mr Fiat and Mrs Fiat – and in the morning we sent a push notification to our London base, saying today Mr Fiat and Mrs Fiat are in the streets of London; try to cross paths with them and if you succeed, and like them, you will be entered into a draw," he said.

"The reaction of the users was excellent, because it’s not disturbing at all, it’s immersed into the experience, so this will be the way will allow brands to advertise on Happn."

While Happn has access to a wealth of user data, Rappaport said that the company would never sell or rent the data to third parties. Brands will be able to use it to build an experience into Happn, but they will never get access to the data itself.

"Just as Facebook has a huge social graph, which is used by advertisers worldwide, Happn has a social graph, but this social graph has something very very valuable and special – it’s hyper localized and real time, so it allows so many things for the marketers," he said.

"You are Dior, you want to launch your new perfume on Happn, so every store that sells Dior can create a profile and they can reach all the people who are around the store right now and send them a message with a discount."

As the service grows, Rappaport said he wanted introduce new features to enrich the communication between users. Happn already partners with Spotify, allowing users to send tracks to each other and add songs to their own profile to express their musical interests, but in the future they could also send pictures, videos and voice messages.

However, he added that it is important to keep the service simple, and avoid adding features that confuse the user or cause them to become frustrated with the service: "Whatever we create as new features, you will have a date in two clicks," he said.

This article was written by Sophie Curtis from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

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Business Insider's Sam Rega wrote an article about how he decided to quit using dating apps like Tinder and Hinge.

It's been six months since he quit using them, so we decided to check in with him and see how his decision has affected his dating life.

Produced by Graham Flanagan

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Mobile dating app Happn is growing like crazy and is rolling out new features including voice messages to keep people hooked, Business Insider can reveal.

The app, which launched in Paris in early 2014, connects people who have crossed paths in real life.

Happn co-founder and CEO Didier Rappaport told Business Insider in London on Friday that he plans to launch a number of new features in order to further improve the overall experience users get.

They include the ability to send voice messages to crushes.

"For us, the evolution of our product is really important," Rappaport says. "We want to make a service that is more and more rich for our users and one that allows them to express themselves much more.

"The voice is something that is very emotional," the French entrepreneur continued. "Just listening to the voice of someone else can give you a lot of impression."

Happn now has 8 million users worldwide, with 700,000 of them in the UK. Rappaport added that the app is gaining 1.2 million users a month and that it could be level with Tinder by 2017.

In addition to voice messaging, Happn will also allow users to integrate their Instagram profiles with the dating app, as rival firm Tinder did earlier this year.

Rappaport did not want to publicly state when the new features will be rolled out to users.

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Mobile dating app Happn can’t be used to stalk people, according to the company’s CEO, despite what some reports have suggested.

The Happn app allows single people to set up their own profile and choose what kind of person they’re looking for based on sex and age. The app shows users who they’ve “crossed paths” with and how many times. After two Happn users express an interest in one another — by tapping a red love heart on the other person’s profile — they are able write messages to one another.

When asked about whether the app can be used to stalk people, Happn cofounder and CEO Didier Rappaport claimed it isn’t nearly accurate enough.

"You can cross with people who are around you but it is not really precise because it’s in a circle of 250m, which in a big city is very large, so you cannot really stalk the people," he said.

Those who use Happn for several months may start to notice that they’ve crossed paths with certain people close to 100 times, indicating that this person probably lives or works very close to them. It’s perfectly possible that Happn users may start to recognise the people they’ve matched with on Happn on the street.

Rappaport told Business Insider that Happn is planning to introduce a voice messaging feature so that users can talk to their “crushes” in a more realistic way. Like rival app Tinder, Happn will also be integrated with Instagram so users can see what photos their love interests are posting.

"For us the evolution of our product is really important," Rappaport said. "We want to make a service that is more and more rich for our users to allow them to express themselves much more."

Some have suggested that Happn’s proprietary algorithm could be used by the police to track people who have gone missing but Rappaport said the company’s technology wouldn’t be able to pinpoint an individual’s location any better than the technology that’s already built into smartphones, namely GPS.

"We like fostering magic and we want to keep our app in that mood," said Rappaport.

Happn has 700,000 users in the UK, with 450,000 of those in London where a high population density allows Happn users to cross paths with more people. Globally, Happn is used by some 8 million people and 1.2 million people are joining the platform every month. Rappaport said he expects Happn to have 25 to 30 million users worldwide by the end of 2016 and just as many users as Tinder by 2017.

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Mobile dating app Happn has introduced a feature that allows people to send voice messages to their crushes.

The feature, which is likely to creep out some people, allows Happn users to send their connections a one-minute long personal audio clip in the app.

Happn cofounder and CEO Didier Rappaport said in a statement: "This new voice feature provides our members with another opportunity to connect on a more personal level and create meaningful relationships."

To use the new feature, Happn users must click on a mic icon inside of a conversation chain (so it only works with people they've had a "crush" with) and record an audio clip. The user needs to hold the button down while recording and release the button to finish — then they can either click "Send" or "Cancel." The receiver needs to click on the recording to listen.

The feature has rolled out to all iOS and Android users already, a Happn spokeswoman confirmed. 

Happn also announced today that it now has 10 million users worldwide.

The app, which launched in Paris in early 2014, connects people who have crossed paths in real life.

By harnessing real-time geolocation technology, Happn shows users a timeline of the people they have crossed paths with throughout the day – those who were at the same place (within 800 feet) at the same time. They can then express their interest in another person by tapping a heart or dismiss them by tapping a cross. When two users like each other they can start talking to one another.

Rappaport told Business Insider last November that he hopes to catch up with rival Tinder in terms of user numbers by the end of next year. Tinder is thought to have over 25 million users but Happn is gaining 1.3 million more a month.

"We are not afraid to compete with Tinder," said Rappaport. "Tinder is well known because it was one of the first apps in this new way. I think by 2017 we should be equal."

In order to do this, he said he planned to launch a number of new features to further improve the overall experience users get, including the ability to send voice messages to crushes.

"For us, the evolution of our product is really important. We want to make a service that is more and more rich for our users and one that allows them to express themselves much more."

"The voice is something that is very emotional," the French entrepreneur continued. "Just listening to the voice of someone else can give you a lot of impression."

When Rappaport was asked whether he was worried about people misusing the voice messaging feature, he said: "You cannot talk with someone who hasn’t agreed first to talk with you. Second, if you abuse the feature in a discussion with someone then it’s very easy to someone to block you."

The dark side of dating apps

The number of mobile dating apps has surged in the last two years with apps like Bumble, Once, Hinge, and The Inner Circle all competing with each other and offering slightly different features.

They've been embraced by millions of young single people worldwide but health experts have claimed that they facilitate sexual encounters and are to blame for a rise in the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), notably HIV.

Rappaport said it's impossible to link dating apps with a rise in STI numbers.

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There are now 1 million people using the Happn dating app in the UK, according to company behind it.

Launched in the UK in May 2014, Happn allows people to see who they have crossed paths with in real life. If two people on the platform like each other (by tapping a heart on the other user's profile) then they can start messaging each other.

The French startup, which competes with the likes of Tinder, Bumble, Once, The Inner Circle, and an increasing number of more niche dating apps, said it now has 15 million users worldwide.

Happn said it has a particularly high concentration of users in London, which is its third largest city of users worldwide behind Sao Paolo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Competition for users in London led Bumble to advertise on pavements in East London's Shoreditch without permission.

Happn CEO and cofounder Didier Rappaport told Business Insider last November that Happn had 700,000 users in the UK. At the time, he said Happn was gaining 1.2 million users worldwide every month and that he expected it to catch Tinder in terms of user numbers by 2017.

Tinder hasn't revealed its user numbers publicly but a 2014 estimate guessed it has around 50 million registered users.

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Dating app Happn is rolling out a new "See You There" feature next Tuesday to encourage more physical meet-ups between its 17 million users.

The feature will allow Happn users to state on their dating profiles that they are interested in doing a particular activity for the next few hours. Activities range from grabbing a bite to eat, going for a run, or catching a movie.

A spokeswoman for the company said the feature won't allow users to state where they would like the activity to take place due to safety reasons. This is something that would have to be arranged through a private message on the app.

With the new feature, other Happn users will be able to see what people they have crossed paths with are interested in doing and "seize the opportunity," Happn said.

In order to use the See You There feature, users must tap the (+) availability button on the bottom of their home screens and select an activity they want to share. The activity will be visible to users on their timeline for four hours.

If two people are interested in doing the same activity then a "Crush" will be formed (the Happn equivalent of a match).

Didier Rappaport, CEO and founder of Happn, said the See You There feature enables "people to meet like-minded individuals by encouraging them to go offline and share an < activity they are both interested in."

The Happn app, which launched in Paris in early 2014 before expanding to 40 cities around the world, connects people who have crossed paths in real life.

Happn shows users a timeline of the people they have crossed paths with throughout the day – those who were at the same place (within 800 feet) at the same time. They can then express their interest in another person by tapping a heart or dismiss them by tapping a cross. When two users like each other they can start talking to one another.

Competition between dating apps is hotting up, with Badoo, an app with 300 million users worldwide also releasing a new feature this week that allows people to post videos to their profile.

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February has started, Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and that means single people are about to kick into overdrive, according to dating app Happn.

In fact, Happn says its most active day in the US is February 7, one week before Valentine's Day.

This makes sense, in a slightly depressing way. You don't want to be frantically messaging a match too close to Valentine's Day, since having a first date on the actual day, or even around it, is a bit much. A second date on Valentine's Day, on the other hand, seems much more reasonable.

Still, the fact that February 7 is so active is a sobering reflection on how much we let Valentine's Day impact our romantic lives.

Happn also says that while people might assume that New Year's Eve would follow a similar pattern, with dating activity seeing a boost the week before, it's actually the opposite. The data shows a spike in the week after New Year's. New year, fresh start in finding your soul mate, it seems.

Happn got its start in Paris, and matches you up with people you cross paths with. My colleague Steven Tweedie has called it the "hopeless romantic among dating apps."

Read more about it here.

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If you haven't snagged a Valentine yet, it isn't too late — get your dating app profile right and a night out could be on the cards.

Dating app Happn, which gives its 1 million UK users the chance to match with people they cross paths with in day to day life, analysed the 100 most popular profiles on the app to see which features they have in common.

Happn's head of trends Claire Certain told Business Insider: "We’ve been seeing a big spike in activity since the 7th of February as people gear up for the most romantic time of the year."

"Your profile photo is obviously the first thing people you have crossed paths with would look at — just like in real life, your first impression is usually from the way someone presents themselves. So make sure your profile photos are faithful to how you are in real life."

Here are the seven things the most popular users on Happn all have in common — and how you can use them to perfect your profile.

1. Five photos

"The ideal number of pictures is five — enough for people to feel they have an idea of what sort of person you are and how you look," Certain said. "People tend to distrust profiles which only have one or two images, so give a range for people to look through and get to know what you’re like."

2. Don't pose with pets

"Surprisingly, pet shots don’t actually make a difference to how much attention you’ll receive — apparently people are more interested in you than your puppy."

3. Show your face

"Importantly, the most popular profiles make sure their first photo clearly shows their face — an obscure shot or full-body pic from your holiday turns people off," Certain said. "Our most popular profiles have clear, face-on shots which are easy to connect with."

4. Don't use filters

"Black and white photos are also a no-no, with natural light coming out top," Certain said.

5. Don't start with a group photo

"Make sure your first two or three photos are of yourself alone — it’s great to show you’re social, but save group shots for later pics: They’re frustrating if you can’t decipher who’s who!"

6. Mix it up

"Although your first pic should be a close-up of you alone, the most popular profiles have a mixture of portrait and full-length pictures later on in your profile," she said. "These should be in a mixture of settings too — a holiday under the sun, parties, at sporting events or out in the countryside — whatever best paints a picture of your lifestyle. Use your photos as a chance to show the sorts of hobbies you have, places you like to go and things you like to do."

7. Selfies are not off limits

"Interestingly, while selfies are not very common, they aren’t a turn-off this year. Our previous research found that 66% of people are put off by selfies, but this year they are more frequent and well-accepted," Certain said. "In the UK, men tend to take selfies in their car while women are more private, taking these pics in their homes."

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Paris tech investors and entrepreneurs are "scared to death" about the prospective election of Marine Le Pen, an extremist politician who has strong chances of becoming the next French president.

"She is a fascist," said a partner at one of France's leading venture capital firms, speaking to Business Insider. "It's very different from the populism you see in England, because she's absolutely anti-capitalist. She's a pure socialist — that way she's closer to fascism. It's xenophobia, plus socialism."

"I'm scared to death," the person added.

Marine Le Pen is often likened to US president Donald Trump or former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. She is the leader of France's Front National, an anti-immigration and anti-EU party which regards the racist BNP in the UK as its sister party.

Unlike Trump, however, Le Pen is anti-capitalist and this, along with her anti-immigration rhetoric, makes her a worrying candidate for France's tech industry. "She wants to get back to a state-owned economy," noted one venture capitalist.

"It's a real threat," said Loïc Le Meur, the founder of tech conference Le Web. Le Meur lives in San Francisco but votes in France, and is back in the country to promote his new Leade.rs conference. "It's the same risk as in the US."

Didier Rappaport, the CEO of dating app Happn, attributed Le Pen's rise to a "failure of politics".

"A large part of France does not like the way France is going," he said. "They have no choice but the extremes."

But he was more optimistic than his peers, saying she had "no chance of becoming president"— at least this time round.

If you took a walk around Paris, you'd have little idea that France was facing its own Trump moment, particularly given Le Pen's popularity.

Instead, there are posters dotted around for the tech industry's preferred candidate, the independent and pro-entrepreneur Emmanuel Macron. Macron has promised to slash taxes, something sources said often put foreign entrepreneurs and investors off France.

While Rappaport was optimistic for Macron's chances, others voiced doubts.

"95% of the tech industry is pro-Macron," said one VC. "But we live in a bubble."

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LONDON — Dating in a big city like London can be hard.

Whether it's the pace at which people come and go or the city's overwhelming size that gets to you, it can feel hard to meet someone you connect with — and even more difficult to make it last.

However, some people seem to have the whole thing figured out.

Dating app Happn, which launched in the UK in May 2014, allows people to see who they have crossed paths with in real life.

If two people on the platform — which has nearly 30 million users around the world — "like" each other by tapping a heart on the other user's profile, then they can start messaging each other.

With 1.7 million people using the app in the UK, 800,000 of whom live in London, Happn's users certainly know the ins and outs of dating in the city.

Business Insider teamed up with Happn to find out who the most "liked" users are — and to ask them what they owe their dating success to.

Out of over a million single candidates, these are the 18 men and women who came out on top, ranked in ascending order of popularity. 

18. Graham Alexander, 32.

Job: Strategy Consultant.

Hometown: London.

Perfect first date:"An art exhibition, a quirky brunch place — for me a first date has to be somewhere we haven't been before, so if we don't connect, at least we've explored."

Dream vacation:"Horse riding to the Eagle Festival in Mongolia, or across Lake Baikal."

Song of the moment:"Why Me"— Big Bad Voodoo Daddies.

Dream dinner guest:"Stephen Dubner (of Freakonomics fame)."

Book of the moment:"Geography of Thought"— Richard Nisbett.

17. James Valori, 31.

Job: Founder and CEO at Brix Learning.

Hometown: London.

Dream vacation: "Heli-skiing in Alaska."

Surprising fact:"I’m terrified of tomato ketchup."

Favourite food:"Parmagiana Melanzana."

Perfect first date:"A sunny walk down the Thames from Vauxhall to the Tate Modern."

Dream dinner guest: Richard Linklater.

16. Maryann Noronha, 36.

Job: Emergency Doctor.

Hometown: Reading.

Perfect first date: "Something quirky and original. Just had one at a Sea Shanty Festival, which was amazing. Always drinks."

Dream dinner guest: Glenda Jackson.

Surprising fact: "I'd love to own a plane."

Book of the moment:"Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights" by Salman Rushdie.

The dating app Happn plans to introduce subscriptions as part of a drive to become profitable this year.

CEO Didier Rappaport told Business Insider in an interview at Happn's Paris headquarters that the company was working on a "new business model."

A spokeswoman clarified that subscribers to Happn wouldn't see any ads, which is how the app is now funded.

She added that the company was still testing subscriptions and would launch the feature after "consistent results."

Rappaport founded Happn three years ago, and it now has 25 million users.

Rappaport said the goal was to become profitable in 2017.

"If you're well-backed by VCs, it's easy to spend a lot on marketing, but at the end of the day you must be profitable," he said. "We should be profitable by the end of this year. After three years of existence, this is remarkable."

Happn will use artificial intelligence to rank profiles

Happn's differentiator from rivals like Tinder and Bumble is location. When you load the app, Happn takes note of where you are and suggests people who have crossed paths with you at some point in the day.

Another differentiator is that it doesn't proactively match you with other users — the app just shows you who has walked past you most recently.

But this is about to change. Rappaport said the company was testing artificial intelligence to rank profiles that might be more interesting to you.

He was adamant it wasn't like matching on other dating services, though, in which users are paired with someone based on shared interests.

"We do not believe that if you like the same movie, you will fall in love," Rappaport said. "It's more based on data we have — we have every day hundreds of millions of items, like the way you surf and the places where you go. That algorithm will make the correlation without ... any declaration" of hobbies.

He said AI ranking would be introduced within a few months.

Happn is targeting user growth in India

Along with profitability this year, Happn is targeting massive user growth. Rappaport said the company wanted 40 million users by the end of the year, and that means international expansion.

He described 2017 as "the Indian year."

Happn soft launched in India last year, netting 1 million users. But it's just followed up with a major marketing push, fronted by Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan this week. Its rival Tinder is already hugely popular there.

Interestingly, Happn is billing itself to Indian press as a "meetup app" rather than a dating app, judging by local press coverage. This might be a nod to India's rampant harassment problem and its conservatism toward dating and sex.

Happn's getting a redesign to stop you from opening Tinder

Rappaport also hinted at a redesign "before the summer holidays."

He referred to "gamified features" in the app, a new design, and a new tagline. He wouldn't go into further detail but said Happn would still focus on location.

Part of the redesign is intended to keep fickle users who hop among different dating apps hooked to Happn.

"It is true the dating space is very crowded," Rappaport said. "There's a lot of competition — a lot of new apps or websites are appearing almost every day."

This aggressive push for growth might make Happn an attractive acquisition target. Badoo, the dating-app giant, has shown interest in lesser-known rivals like Lulu— could that be a feasible exit?

"I've been contacted by many companies, including Badoo," Rappaport said. "Today my concern is not to talk with my competitors about an exit. Today my concern is to build my company."

Rappaport added: "I know that one day there will be an exit, but that will not be the end of Happn. It will be the start of new growth, a new company."

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Finding your perfect match can happen anywhere, anytime — and university is a great place to meet a potential partner.

However, according to dating app Happn, students at some universities are more sought after than others.

Happn's data team has identified the "hottest universities" across the UK by looking at the postcodes associated with UK university campuses where the most matches (called "crushes" on the app) were made.

While many London universities feature on the list, northern universities were also among the most popular.

Scroll down to see the most attractive universities in the UK, according to Happn.

19. University of Leeds.

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18. Queen’s University Belfast.

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17. University of Sheffield.

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If you're on the hunt for your perfect match, there's a chance you've been looking too close to home.

Travelling is a great way to meet new people — and it turns out there are certain places around the world that increase your chances of finding Mr or Mrs Right.

Dating app Happn— which has 1.9 million users in the UK and 37 million worldwide — analysed the number of "crushes," or matches, made by users across the globe to find out which monuments and landmarks were popular for finding love.

The app, which exists in 50 cities and 40 countries, uses geolocation to connects users who are in the same place at the same time. If the users "like" each other, by tapping a heart on the other user's profile, then they can start messaging each other.

While the likes of the Eiffel Tower did make the list, some of the results were more surprising — and you're unlikely to have heard of the 71.5 metre-tall landmark that took the number one spot.

Scroll down to see the 10 landmarks around the world where you're most likely to meet your match, according to Happn.

10. Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Meaning "hunchback" in Portugese, the mountain is known for its "Christ the Redeemer" statue, which tourists flock to.

9. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey. In the 15th century, this stunning spot served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.

8. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia. Whether you're simply checking out the view or attending a performance, this arts centre offers many opportunities to meet someone new.

• Dating app Happn allows users to see who they've crossed paths with in real life.
• 2.2 million people use Happn in the UK.
• The 15 most popular people on Happn are largely from London — but Newcastle and Ascot also feature.

Whether you're living in a big city or a small town, when you're single it can seem impossible to meet someone new.

However, there are certain people who seem to have dating down to a fine art.

Dating app Happn, which launched in the UK in May 2014, allows people to see who they have crossed paths with in real life.

If two people on the platform — which has 37 million users in 50 cities — "like" each other by tapping a heart on the other user's profile, then they can start messaging.

2.2 million people use Happn in the UK, so they certainly know the ins and outs of dating throughout the country.

Back in April, Business Insider teamed up with Happn to find out who the most "liked" users in the London were at the time — and to ask them what they owe their dating success to.

Now, we've done it again for the whole country. Unsurprisingly given the capital's population, most of the people on the list also live in London — but Newcastle and Ascot also made the cut.

Out of over 2.2 million single candidates, these are the 15 men and women who came out on top, ranked in ascending order of popularity.

15. Jennifer Lottes, 37.

Job: Freelance circus artist.

Hometown: York, Nebraska, USA.

Current location: London.

Strangest date location: A cemetery.

Dream holiday:"I see a cabin in the Alps during the winter. Just lounging and relaxing by the fire. Making a long morning, sipping coffee and enjoying the scenery. Staying cosy bundled up. Maybe snowshoeing in the afternoons."

Dream dinner guest:"It's so hard to say just one! Ricky Gervais, Christopher Walken, Chelsea Handler. I think I could give them all crap and we would have fun together."

Surprising facts:"That I'm a circus artist."

Book of the moment:"The Book of Secrets" by Deepak Chopra.

Favourite food:"Indian is my current favourite. Really anything with great rich flavours.
Sauces and gravies. I love food and eat a lot of it!"

14. Piotr Bartosiewicz, 32.

Job: Graphic Designer.

Hometown: Szczuczyn, Poland.

Current location: London.

Book of the moment:"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins.

Favourite food: Mediterranean.

13. Ian Powell, 28.

Job: Account Director.

Hometown: Ascot, Berkshire.

Current location: Ascot.

Dream dinner guest:"Probably David Attenborough. Margot Robbie at a very close second!"

Dream vacation:"I really want to do the Virgin Galactic space flight when it opens up to the
public."

• Happn is the latest dating service to pile onto Facebook after the company decided it would get into dating.
• Happn CEO Didier Rappaport said it was curious that Facebook had announced the news only weeks after the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.
• He said it might be a way to make the bad news disappear.
• Rappaport's comments came after Facebook's announcement sent the stock price for Match, which owns Tinder, plummeting.

The CEO of dating app Happn thinks Facebook has an ulterior motive for announcing a brand new dating service.

In an interview with Business Insider, Didier Rappaport said social networking and dating were totally different — and that Facebook was trying to distract from its privacy problems.

He said: "I have been quite surprised that Facebook would launch a dating service. The DNA of a social network and dating service are totally opposite. People like to share lots of things with their friends and family, but not what concerns their private life and dates."

"It's quite interesting to note this announcement has been done just a few weeks after the Cambridge Analytica concerns," Rappaport added, suggesting it was a way to make the bad news "disappear," so Facebook doesn't have to "talk about the past."

Facebook announced at its annual F8 developer conference that it would add dating features to the existing Facebook mobile app, but hasn't given many details. The company promised it would respect people's privacy, and that it wouldn't show friends as prospective matches.

Still, observers noted the irony of Facebook announcing a dating service both as it tries to move past the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, and after it fired an employee for allegedly stalking women online.

IAC, the parent company of Match Group, issued a barbed response to the news on Tuesday, riffing on Russian groups using Facebook to spread misinformation. Match Group owns big dating services such as OKCupid, PlentyOfFish, and Tinder. "Come on in," CEO Joey Levin said. "The water's warm. Their product could be great for US/Russia relationships."

Nonetheless, Match Group's stock cratered on Wednesday. Happn might be a private company, but it's possible that Facebook's move into the dating space could torpedo the competition.

Rappaport is, outwardly, not concerned. "Ok, it would be one more competitor," he said. "Maybe a big one — we don't know. We don't know the reaction of Facebook users, if they will agree to mix their social lives with their private lives."

He said Happn had almost 50 million registered users, and 7 million monthly active users. It recently moved into subscriptions and, while it doesn't disclose revenue, is profitable.

Asked why he thought Facebook didn't acquire a dating app — like Happn or Bumble— Rappaport pointed to Facebook's decreasing app usage.

"They bought WhatsApp, they bought Instagram, that's usually the way they [approach it.] Here, it's like they need to do something inside Facebook to re-increase the usage of Facebook. And that's probably why they haven't tried to buy any other app," he said.

Happn remains open-minded about being acquired

When Business Insider interviewed Rappaport in April 2017, he hinted at acquisition offers for Happn.

Asked on Thursday whether the firm might seek a buyer or more venture capital funding, Rappaport said: "There are not so many dating apps out there that are at global scale and independent — in a world of ... consolidation, Happn could be a target.

"Now, this is not something we have in mind, we want to continue our growth. How we will develop Happn in the next few years — in partnership with a giant — we don't know today."

SEE ALSO: Facebook fired an employee accused of using privileged access to 'stalk women' on Tinder

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Happn is the hopeless romantic among dating apps, though the concept can sound a little creepy at first.

A lot of apps like Tinder simply show you people within a few miles of you. Happn goes one step beyond: When you open it on your phone, you're greeted by a collection of other users with whom you've physically crossed paths with throughout your day.

While some people might be initially uneasy about the location-tracking nature of the app, Happn's founder and CEO says it's all about replicating the serendipity of real life.

"We wanted to bring back reality into the dating world," Happn founder and CEO Didier Rappaport told Business Insider. "We think that every day you cross paths with people, and most of them, you miss them, because you do not have the time to talk with them or because there was some missed connection."

Even the term "missed connection" likely conjures up images of cringe-worthy Craiglist posts, but Rappaport says he wanted to bring that concept into the modern age. And so Rappaport, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Dailymotion, decided to create his first app to act as a sort of hybrid between a travel log and Tinder. That way, when people noticed someone interesting on their daily commute or while sitting at their favorite coffee shop, they could open up Happn afterward if they missed their initial chance and have a second shot at striking up a conversation.

"When you meet someone, it is always at a precise place and at a precise moment," Rappaport said. "So the fact that on your device you have a geo-location service and your device is always with you, you’re always there in real time with your neighborhood and everyone around you."

When browsing Happn, you can see a timeline of every Happn user you've been near in the last few days, ranked chronologically and by the total time you've been around them. If you see someone you like, you can "heart" them secretly to indicate interest, but they won't be notified — you're only matched up if you both independently "heart" each other.

If you want to be a bit bolder and ensure that person knows you're interested, you can send them a "charm," which is essentially a push notification with a guaranteed delivery that costs between 10 and 20 cents.

Since your Happn timeline is arranged chronologically, a charm also guarantees that your encounter won't be lost among more recent encounters if that person traveled a lot that day.

"Security was one of the pillars of our thinking when we built Happn," Rappaport said when asked about the inherent location-tracking of Happn. "When you are very near someone, we will never say ‘You are 10 meters,’ we will say ‘You are less than 250 meters’ — you don’t have any flag on the maps. We don’t record the exact journeys of people, we just remember the crossing points."

Happn got its start in Paris, France, but has since expanded to 3 million registered users with strong followings in London and New York City. After raising a total of $8 million in a seed and Series A funding, Rappaport told Business Insider Happn "should close the Series B by this summer," and plans to continue to see growth increase at a faster pace.

"We reached our first million users in first 11 months, the second million after two and half months, and the third million within the following 50 days," Rappaport said. "We should be at least 10 million members by the end of this year."

Talking with Rappaport, it quickly became clear that while people have a habit of sitting and browsing dating apps like Tinder, Happns takes the stance that you should be living in the moment. And that while you can browse Happn while at a museum to see other people at the exhibit, the main idea is to be able to browse your encounters after you get back home. It's a subtle difference in use case than other hook-up apps like Tinder, whose users often make a game out of browsing the app and swiping through potential matches in any spare moment.

"There is a big difference between the past and the present in terms of romance," Rappaport said. "We are not offering people the ability to only make love, because in the past it was just a huge lie — there is no algorithm that makes finding your love because you checked the right boxes with someone else. We just provide people the ability to meet each other . You can only meet the people who are around you at the right time, at the same time, like you. It's very easy, simple in fact. People need a simple app to help them in their own life, that’s all."

You can download Happn for free for iOS over at the App Store and for Android over at Google Play.

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