LINKEDIN - ToDate, a new dating app that allows users to go on same-day dates, launches in the UK. On ToDate, singles select activities they are interested in doing today (cocktail or a stroll in the park) along with the time. Once they select their preferred activities, they will only see users who have selected the same activities. Once they get a match, it is time to go on a date. All users are fully ID verified by Credas and photos are checked by AWS Photo Recognition software.
Dating App ToDate Lets Users Go on a Date Today
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Dating App Breeze Raises €1.3M
LINKEDIN - Breeze is a new dating app based in the Netherlands. The app, which encourages offline dates, has recently raised €1.3M. Breeze's users cannot chat but can immediately plan a date with their matches via the app.
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Match Group Hit With Biometric Data Class Action
LAW360 - An Illinois federal court will hear a proposed class action against Match Group and Tinder that alleges that the online dating companies violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by illegally storing biometric facial scans of Tinder app users without their consent. Tinder allows users to earn a "blue checkmark" on their profile, meaning Tinder has "verified" their profiles under its Liveness Check and 3d Face Authentication process. The lawsuit accuses Tinder of failing to first secure written consent from Illinois users and provide certain notices to those people concerning how the facial scans will be used, stored, shared and ultimately destroyed, as allegedly required by the Illinois BIPA law.
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Grindr Stock Tumbles 20%, Hits New All-time Low
SEEKING ALPHA - Grindr's shares opened at $8 on Nov 18, reaching a high of $9 in early trading before falling to a new 52-week low of $6.52 in late afternoon. Grindr went public following the merger with SPAC Tiga Acquisition through a deal that valued the combined company at ~$2.1B.
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How Dating Apps Master the Art of Marketing Matchmaking
CAMPAIGN - According to Data.ai, dating app global downloads have increased 173% from 293M in the H1 2017 to 799M in the H1 2022. Global consumer spending on dating apps increased 320%, from $643M to $2.7B. "Dating apps give singles 'the paradox of choice' - when we have too many choices, we end up not making any," says Violet Lim, co-founder and CEO of Lunch Actually Group, the largest dating agency in Southeast Asia. Lunch Actually differentiates itself from others by focusing on handpicked matches and real dates rather than casual dating. Other apps, including Coffee Meets Bagel, are entirely dedicated to helping daters find serious relationships. Coffee Meets Bagel continually celebrates their #CMBcouples - couples who have met and formed serious relationships on the app - and this continues to drive word of mouth. Bumble has seen success with campaigns like 'It Starts With Hello' that ran in the Philippines and Singapore. The campaign was driven by the insight that some women might be overwhelmed by the idea of starting the conversation on Bumble, so the campaign encourages them to overcome their hesitation by making it as simple as typing 'hello'.
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Being a Cheap Date Now an Attractive Quality
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Inflation has changed modern dating for Gen Zers and Millennials. Cheap dates are not only more common but an appealing quality. Half of single Gen Zers and Millennials are now seeking out less expensive places for dates, according to a survey of 8K people by Plenty of Fish.
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Dating App IRLY Raises $350K Pre-Seed Round
BUSINESS INSIDER - Investors include Chris Kaufman, the co-founder of the sneaker marketplace StockX, and Kevin Edwards, the CEO of the Canadian food-delivery service SkipTheDishes, along with several angel investors. The app, expected to launch early next year, aims to cater to Gen Z, with the possibility for users to video chat, play games, and send each other virtual gifts. The app has brought on the Internet star Cameron Dallas, who rose to fame in the early 2010s on the short-form video app Vine and now has ~25M Instagram followers. He previously co-founded a subscription platform called Fanfix. SuperOrdinary, a beauty accelerator, acquired Fanfix in July in an eight-figure deal.
by Marta Biino
See full article at Business Insider
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Tinder Users Say 'Situationship' Is a Valid Relationship Status
MASHABLE - In an in-app survey among Tinder users aged 18-24 in the UK, U.S., and Australia last month, 1 in 10 respondents said they prefer situationships as "a way to develop a relationship with less pressure." The app saw a 49% jump in members adding "situationship" to their profiles from January to October this year.
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Joel Simkhai Wants to Make a Better Grindr With His New App Motto
NBC NEWS - Joel Simkhai helped launch Grindr in 2009. Grindr piloted geolocation to show users' distance from one another, fundamentally changing queer culture. It brought millions of people together in ways that gay bars - the longtime focal points of LGBTQ social scenes - simply couldn't. But some say it worsened the physical and racial discrimination that has long plagued the gay community. Now, more than a decade later, he wants a do-over in the hope of "course-correct" and avoiding the pitfalls of existing apps. Simkhai launched a queer dating and hookup app this month in New York City called Motto, which he says has innovative features to help prevent toxicity and discrimination. Motto requires users to have face pictures instead of "headless torsos" and limits time spent on the app by serving users ten profiles a day. The app also requires a verification process for every user.
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AI Will Transform Online Dating
THE SUN - AI will transform the way people around the world find their matches online, according to Christopher Gulczynski, one of five Tinder's founders and the CEO of the social media platform Niche. "People are hungry for more quality interactions rather than quantity," he said, adding that Tinder and Bumble are more focused on the latter. People could soon carry their online profiles in a chip that would work like a digital wallet. AI could then be used to match people based on factors such as the networks they are in or the hobbies they enjoy.
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