When you've been an online version of Cilla Black for the past seven years, you might think it hard to leave matchmaking behind. Simon Prockter, the founder and CEO of Adventura.com probably won't thank us for the comparison, but his reputation in the world of dating precedes him.

Through his first business, SpeedDater, which he founded with a former publishing colleague was a hugely successful singles database with just under half a million customers. When the company branched out into travel as a value-add with Speed Breaks Ltd, he and co-founder Ben Tisdall (now departed), brought new impetus to holiday romances and a more sophisticated take on Club 18-30s holidays.

But with the active holidays now taking precedence, it called for a change in name and image. Share the adventure, he promises. And while romance will inevitably happen between groups of young single people, it's no longer the be-all-and-end-all foisted on those more interested in great skiing, diving, sailing or other sporty breaks. Hence the new name: Adventura.com

And the re-brand has been surprisingly smooth. Prockter was already the owner of the domain, but some internal resistance and a heritage of sorts had meant the business could never quite take the leap. The problem was that when the company exhibited at travel shows, the word 'speed' in the name had all the usual connotations.

He's clearly still getting used to the change, slipping the word 'singles' into conversation before adding that the term is "so against brand guidelines now". Badges, scorecards and dating paraphenalia are banished. Itineraries are less rigid. "People didn't want it to be forced," he says. Prockter acknowledges though that some will still stump up the cash in pursuit of meeting someone or sex, but for many it's just about fun.

The switch took a while to happen. "We flogged all the dating assets and now run with travel." The dating business was sold to EasyDate Ltd in a cash deal, plus earn-out, in March 2008 following an approach by Max Polyakov two years earlier. The exit price is undisclosed - indeed only three people on Prockter's side of the deal know it. Early rival Udate.com sold for £93m in 2002 and had a smaller database, but it's fair to say valuations had fallen significantly by 2008.

Nevertheless, Prockter appears to be doing well. He's also got serial entrepreneur Paul Birch, one of the originators of Bebo.com alongside brother Michael and his wife Xochi, on board. Birch bought out Tisdall in October 2005. And Adventura has a sister site, Pureescapes.com which focuses on group retreats to lavish properties in Europe. It's a site he founded with tech start-up specialist Rob Loch last year and is growing steadily, with friends in his entrepreneurial network using the service to forge closer relationships and share expertise from respective areas.

Adventura turned over £2.2m to September 2008 and Prockter expects to see an improvement this year, with gross profitability already looking to be higher. He's also set to launch a third site, Tripflip, a strategy game where participants compete for a holiday. The site will combine elements of social networking and be delivered as a Facebook application. "The travel industry isn't innovative enough," he rails. "Some of the big five travel players have only launched booking engines in the last few years. Anyone not writing something for Facebook is missing a trick."