Internet Dating Investments

Chinese Soul App Focuses on Shared Values Rather Than Appearances

TECHNODE - Jan 16 - Shanghai-based Renyimen Technology launched Soul App in late 2016. While most dating apps let users browse a feed of profile pictures to find matches, Soul App employs a mix of personality and interest tests to sort users. It then uses machine learning to generate pools of members with similar values and interests for users to choose from. Users cannot see any personal information of others, besides their test match score and their public posts. Soul App closed a $60M Series C led by GGV Capital in Dec 2018. In January 2018, the company raised tens of million dollars in a Series B from DST Global, Genesis Capital, and Morningside Venture Capital. Soul App has ~10M monthly active users.

by Tony Xu
See full article at Technode

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Yubo Raises $12.3M for Its Social App for Teens

TECH CRUNCH - Dec 12 - French startup Yubo has raised a $12.3M funding round led by Iris Capital and Idinvest Partners. Existing investors Alven, Sweet Capital and Village Global are also participating. The startup has managed to attract 25M users since its launch in 2015. Yubo is a social media app for young people under 25 with one focus in particular on helping teenagers meeting new people and creating friendships. In 2019, the startup has generated $10 million in revenue. Yubo will use this funding round to also improve safety. The company already partners with Yoti for age verification.

by Romain Dillet
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Chinese Video Dating App Yidui Secures $10M

DEAL STREET ASIA - Sep 9 - Video dating app Yidui has raised $10M in Series A+ round from XVC. The dating app is operated by Beijing Milian Technology & Trade. It has closed Series A round funding from BlueRun Ventures. Milian Technology, which launched the dating app in 2018, claims to have 10K+ active profiles currently. By the end of 2019, Milian Technology is targeting to cross 1B yuan ($142M) turnover mark.

See full article at Deal Street Asia

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Dating.com Acquires Dil Mil App for South Asian Expats

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 25 - The Dating.com Group, an investment of SDVentures, has acquired Dil Mil, a San Francisco-based dating app for expats from India and other South Asian countries. The acquisition was via a combination of cash and Dating.com Group stock. According to Dating.com, the deal values the company at up to $50M. CEO and founder KJ Dhaliwal will continue to manage the company and will join Dating.com Group's M&A and Strategy committees, as well as the Dating.com Group Advisory Board. Dil Mil has effectively become the 'Tinder for South Asians', has ~1M users in the US, UK, & Canada, and has spread its influence both via the app, as well as events, music, and art. The portfolio of Dating.com Group already includes numerous brands including Dating.com, DateMyAge, LovingA, Tubit, AnastasiaDate, ChinaLove and others.

by Mike Butcher
See full article at Tech Crunch

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S'More Launches in Beta, Backed by a $1M Seed Round

MOBILEMARKETING MAGAZINE - Nov 14 - Dating app S'More (a.k.a. Something More), has launched its private beta this week in the Boston area, with a waitlist of ~8K singles and a $1M seed round, led by Benson Oak Ventures, and also including a number of private investors. S'More wants user to get to know each other without seeing them first. The more a user engages and chats with a person, the more their profile photos unblur and the more their private content unlocks. S'More founder, Adam Cohen Aslatei, worked at various dating apps and ad tech firms, including gay dating app Chappy, The Meet Group and Spark Networks.

by David Murphy
See full article at MobileMarketing Magazine

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Yacktman Asset Management Takes $1.22M Position in Spark Networks

DARBY NEWS - Nov 11 - Yacktman Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Spark Networks in the Q3, according to its SEC filing. The institutional investor acquired 220K shares, valued at $1,2M. Yacktman Asset Management owned ~0.07% of Spark Networks at the end of the most recent quarter. Gabelli Funds also purchased shares of Spark Networks, valued at ~$55K. Renaissance Technologies purchased $454K worth of Spark shares. Finally, Canaan Partners purchased $22.6M worth of Spark shares.

See full article at Darby News

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Andrey Andreev Sells Stake of Bumble's Parent Company MagicLab to Blackstone

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 9 - Andrey Andreev, the founder of Badoo, is selling his entire stake in MagicLab, the company that owned both Bumble and Badoo (and other dating apps), to Blackstone, which is one of the world's leading investment firms. He will step away from the business in the process, and Wolfe Herd, Bumble's founder, becomes the CEO of the whole company, retaining much of her stake in the business. That stake is at ~19%. The deal values MagicLab at $3B. Blackstone also will be making an investment in the company as part of the deal.

by Ingrid Lunden
See full article at Tech Crunch

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M17 Acquires Livestreaming Platform MeMe Live

TECH IN ASIA - Nov 4 - Taiwanese social media startup M17 Group has acquired MeMe Live, a livestreaming platform focused on markets in Asia Pacific. The company claims that the deal would bring its total market share of the livestreaming industry in developed Asia to 60%. The company also expects the acquisition to help it reach annual group revenues of $1B. Established in April 2017, M17 is the holding firm for Taiwanese livestreaming portal 17 Media, Singapore-based dating app Paktor Group, business-to-business live commerce service HandsUP, and artist agency Unicorn Entertainment. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

by Miguel Cordon
See full article at Tech In Asia

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Conservative Dating App Receives $200K in Pre-seed Funding

ACCESSWIRE - Oct 16 - Right Hook, a North Carolina-based dating startup, have raised ~$200K from several angel investors to fuel the launch of its mobile platform and expansion to markets across the UK and the US. $150K came from London based VENBEYCAP.

See full article at Internet Dating Newswire

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SDVentures and SOL Holdings Merge to Form Dating.com Group

PR NEWSWIRE - Oct 15 - SDVentures, an international Internet holding founded by Dmitry Volkov, will be merging its g and social discovery products with SOL Holdings, an online entertainment and communications holding, to form Dating.com Group. As a result, SDVentures will receive $215M in cash and an equity stake in newly created Dating.com Group. Volkov plans to invest the funds in technology companies and startups.

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