by Josh Constine
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Category: Reporters – Josh Constine
Facebook Dating Is Launching In Colombia
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
Here’s Mary Meeker’s Essential 2018 Internet Trends Report
TECH CRUNCH – June 5 – Legendary venture capitalist Mary Meeker has just released the 2018 version of her famous Internet Trends report. As of 2018, half the world population, or ~3.6B people, will be on the Internet.
- Mobile usage: U.S. adults are spending more time online thanks to mobile, clocking 5.9h per day in 2017 vs 5.6h in 2016.
- Mobile ads: $7B mobile ad opportunity.
- Crypto: Coinbase's user count has nearly quadrupled since January 2017.
- Voice: Voice technology is at an inflection point due to speech recognition hitting 95% accuracy and the sales explosion for Amazon Echo which went from ~10M to 30M sold in total by the end of 2017.
- Tech investment: We're at an all-time high for public and private investment in technology.
- Ecommerce vs Brick & Mortar: Ecommerce growth quickens as now 13% of all retail purchases happen online.
- Amazon: More people start product searches on Amazon than search engines now.
- Subscription services: They're seeing massive adoption, with Netflix up 25%, The New York Times up 43%, and Spotify up 48% YOY in 2017.
- Education: Employees seek retraining and education from YouTube and online courses to keep up with new job requirements and pay off skyrocketing student loan debt.
- Freelancing: The on-demand workforce grew 23% in 2017 driven by Uber, Airbnb, Etsy, Upwork, and Doordash.
- Transportation: People are buying fewer cars, shifting transportation spend to rideshare, which saw rides double in 2017.
- Enterprise: Consumerization of the enterprise through better interfaces is spurring growth for companies like Dropbox and Slack.
- China: Alibaba is expanding beyond China with strong gross merchandise volume, though Amazon still rules in revenue.
- Privacy: China has a big opportunity as users there are much more willing to trade their personal data for product benefits than U.S. users.
- Immigration: 56% of top U.S. companies were founded by a first- or second-generation immigrant.
How Raya’s $8/Month Dating App Turned Exclusivity Into Trust
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 24 – Raya is less like Tinder and more like a secret society. It costs a flat $7.99 for everyone, women and celebrities included. Launched in March 2015, Raya has purposefully flown under the radar. No interviews. Little info about the founders. In late 2016 it quietly acquired video messaging startup Chime, led by early Facebooker Jared Morgenstern, without anyone noticing. He'd become Raya's first investor a year earlier. The app has reportedly attracted celebrities like DJs Diplo and Skrillex, actors Elijah Wood and Amy Schumer and musicians Demi Lovato and John Mayer, plus scores of Instagram models and tattooed creative directors. Raya users can now see nearby people on a map when GPS says they're at hot spots like bars, dance halls and cafes.
Facebook Should Actually Be Tinder Too
MeetMe Acquires If(we), Parent Company Of Tagged And Hi5
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 7 – The deal is worth $60M in cash, partially funded by a $30M loan from JP Morgan. Tagged and Hi5 will both remain their own distinct brands. If(we) reported $44M revenue in 2016, with 56% coming from mobile and claimed to have 5.4M MAU, with 18k new users coming every day. The company managed to raise $28.7M. After the merger, the combined company will have 10.6M MAU and nearly 1.1M DAU. MeetMe expects If(we) to add $9M to its earnings over the next 12 months.
by Josh Constine
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Zoosk Drops 1/3 Of Its Staff
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 14 – Despite $61M in funding, Zoosk is laying off 1/3 of its staff. ~40 people will be let go. Founded in 2007, Zoosk found success by building extensions for MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and Bebo. It reached 40M registered users and 12M actives by 2009. Zoosk made money by selling subscriptions. The dating app ditched its IPO plans in 2014, and its founders stepped down. Former CFO Kelly Steckelberg became CEO. "To operate as a sustainable, profitable and innovative company, we've made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our headcount", she commented.
Tagged Founder Greg Tseng Tags Out After 11 Years As CEO
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 2 – Greg Tseng is stepping down from the CEO role after 11 years running its dating social network Tagged and game studio hi5. He'll remain a board member. The company's new CEO will be its COO Dash Gopinath, who was formerly the Chief Product Officer of Tagged competitor Badoo. Tagged still have a team of ~100 people and 2015 will be its 8th consecutive profitable year. The company raised $12M.
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
Hinge Raised $4.5M
TECH CRUNCH – July 2 – VCs Founders Fund and Lowercase Capital invested $4.5M in online dating app, Hinge. Hinge delivers a daily set of tailored matches based on users' profession, education and interests. Hinge’s iOS and Android userbase grew 300% this year in the nine cities it operates in: DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, San Fransicso, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and L.A. The new round brings it to $8.6M in total funding. The money will go to focusing on new product features.
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Hinge Launches In San Francisco
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 17 – Dating app Hinge launched in Feb in Washington. It saw ~25% monthly growth as it expanded to New York and Boston. In Nov it raised $4M. The app looks a lot like Tinder with their swipe to approve or dismiss matches, and the option to chat if users like each other. But Hinge users receive a limited set of potential matches each day to seriously consider each person and check out the profiles rather than photos. Hinge plans to monetize by selling premium services that enhance users’ experiences.