Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Looking for Love in the Metaverse

FORBES - VR dating is on the rise, but Match Group/Tinder pulled the plug on it's (10 month) attempt to build a metaverse dating space, and scrapped the creation of an in-app currency - as revenue growth slackened. Match previously acquired Hyperconnect, an AI & AR company that was developing a virtual romance destination called "Single Town." Now they will iterate but not invest heavily in metaverse. Meanwhile, Nevermet, Flirtual and Planet Theta are showing the different ways in which metaverse dating apps might work.

Nevermet connects VR enthusiasts, who build profiles including in-depth personal bios and avatars. Once two people match they leave Neremet to connect in a virtual world of their choosing. Flirtual sends users to VRChat after they've connected on the Flirtual app. Planet Theta launches November, and will connect matches via virtual speed dating. 1-min chats lead to 3-min coffee dates in a Planet Theta-designed cafe. After virtual coffee users see their dates' photos and can connect in Planet Theta's metaverse world, virtually sipping drinks at a bar or feeding squirrels in the enchanted forest.

by David Westenhaver
See full article at Forbes

Mark Brooks: The mind boggles. What's your thoughts on VR / AR and AI enabled Internet dating? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Swell.

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Match Hopes to Re-Spark Tinder With a New CMO

MEDIA POST - Bernard Kim, who joined the company as chief executive officer a few months ago, announced that Renate Nyborg is out as Tinder CEO. Melissa Hobley, CMO of Match's OkCupid unit, will move to Tinder CMO. Tinder's revenue growth and new product have been disappointing. "We need to do more to excite our user base to drive top of funnel growth," Kim says. The company is bailing out of the metaverse, at least for now, "given uncertainty about the ultimate contours of the metaverse, as well as the more challenging operating environment." In Q2, Match Group's revenue rose 12% to $795M, and it posted a loss of $10M. "Western markets will settle into slow growth for the next few years," says Mark Brooks, a consultant in the internet dating industry, "until real innovation and shifts into new media are both realizable and can be monetized." When that happens, he says, "internet dating becomes a new game." While he agrees with Kim's decision to back off from the metaverse now, it will have advantages as Web 3.0 gets closer to reality. "It will be important to have a trusted brand because users may have to relinquish more of their privacy in a VR - and especially an AR-driven world." Brooks believes AR has the potential to disrupt dating in ways few can yet imagine, even on par with the way smartphones ushered in a mobile revolution. "AR will bring a different and new level of experience and value in dating."

by Sarah Mahoney
See full article at Media Post

See the top news on Match Group
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Q&A With George Rawlings and Matt McNeill Love: Founders of Thursday

BUSINESS LEADER - Dating app Thursday only works one day a week.

Q: Can you tell us how it works?
A: If you sign-in on a Wednesday, it will tell you to go away. Once Thursday comes around, the app will come to life and show you people that want to go on a date.

Q: Do you have any concerns about the longevity of the idea?
A: Since we launched in Oct 2021, we've hosted 322 events and every week, without fail, they sell out. The number of users increases month-on-month and we're looking at new territories, both in the UK and abroad.

Q: How have you funded the business so far?
A: Our first round was on Crowdcube in 2018. We also raised a round of £100K from friends and family. Then in lockdown, we raised an additional £350K through angel investors and following this, we had our official seed round for £2.5M last summer.

Q: What have you learned through your fundraising?
A: Raise what you need, rather than what you can.

Q: When you're raising, what are the expectations from those funding you?
A: We were told to hire lots of senior people, as fast as we could. But it would have been expensive, and we would have run out of money. We've been very careful about hiring and taken the process very slowly.

Q: What is the most outlandish thing you have done to raise money?
A: We held up a sign outside of a Lamborghini garage asking if anybody rich wanted to give us some money. We raised ~ £20K that day.

Q: How do you organise your marketing?
A: We have a team of eleven in total, but we don't have a marketing department. It is a case of us all getting together and discussing ideas, and no idea is stupid.

by Oli Ballard
See full article at Business Leader

See the top news on Thursday

Dating App for Single Parents Is a "No Brainer", Says Founder of Frolo

NEWSTALK - Single parents debate whether they should mention they have kids in their bio or wait until they match and get to know someone before mentioning it. Frolo originally started as a community hub for single parents but has since decided to branch out into the dating scene. Since it was launched it has been downloaded 100k times and currently has 40k users.

by James Wilson
See full article at NewsTalk

See the top news on Frolo

Announcing Trust & Safety Connect Event on 'Looming Legislation'

OPW - Trust & Safety Connect (TSC) is on Wed 17th August starting 11:30AM EST (New York), and for this quarterly online event we're focused on 'Looming Legislation'. What you need to know about the legislative update for Trust & Safety. We have a half hour of networking on virtual tables, then a 50 minute panel with two world-class panelists from ODA (Online Dating Association) and RealMe, and moderator Norman Petty, who is head of Trust & Safety at The Meet Group. 1.5 hours all-in.

If you hold a full-time leadership role at an Internet dating company then you are welcome to join IDEA for free, and join TSC (and LTR) events for free. See the Trust & Safety Connect speakers and invite page here. Email mark@courtlandbrooks.com to RSVP for TSC. There are 40 places only.

Trust & Safety Connect is kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep and Courtland Brooks

Tinder to Kill Virtual Currency, Management Changes

TECH CRUNCH - Match Group announced a series of changes to Tinder's management team alongside the announcement of disappointing Q2 earnings. Notably, Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg will be departing the company after less than a year in the top job. Match Group is also killing Tinder's plans to adopt new technology, like virtual currencies and metaverse-based dating. Alongside the departure of Nyborg, Tinder will have a reorganized management team that also includes:

• Faye Iosotaluno, formerly Match Group's chief strategy officer, as Tinder's COO
• Mark van Ryswyk, as Tinder's chief product officer.
• Melissa Hobley, formerly OkCupid's CMO, as Tinder's CMO.
• Tom Jacques, as Tinder's chief technology officer.
• Advisor Amarnath Thombre. The current CEO of Match Group Americas and 15-year Match Group veteran will advise the Tinder management team on product roadmap and growth.

by Sarah Perez
See full article a Tech Crunch

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Match Q2 Results

MATCH GROUP - Total Revenue grew 12% YOY to $795M. Operating loss was $10M driven by a $217M impairment of intangibles relating to the Hyperconnect acquisition. Operating income was $286M, up 9% YOY. Payers increased 10% to 16.4M, up from 15M in the prior year quarter. Tinder direct revenue grew 13% YOY. All other brands collectively grew direct revenue 12% YOY.

See full article at Match Group website

See the top news on Match Group
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Dating News Headlines: Match Group, Tinder, Frolo, Thursday

Quick links to today's dating news headlines

• Tinder to Kill Virtual Currency, Metaverse Plans Amid Match Group Earnings loss; Tinder Loses Its CEO - Tech Crunch
• New App Launches to Simplify and Organize 50M Dating App Users - PR Newswire
• Dating App for Single Parents Is a "No Brainer", Says Creator - NewsTalk
• George Rawlings and Matt McNeill Love: Founders of Thursday (Interview) - Business Leader

TikTok-style Dating App Desti Filters Matches by Date Destinations

TECH CRUNCH - Desti is a new video-focused dating app that allows users to find matches based on a preferred date destination. The app launched in Austin, Texas. Desi doesn't have a "like" feature, so people are forced to start conversations. Users can send a message to a person, and the receiver can accept or reject the message. They can only see one at a time and must pass or reply to the message to move on to the next. There is also a friend version of the app called Besti, which is currently in beta. The company raised $1M at $5M valuation.

by Lauren Forristal
See full article at Tech Crunch