NEW YORK TIMES - Nevermet is one of a growing number of virtual reality (VR) dating services that allow users to match with other VR enthusiasts and then arrange a meetup somewhere in the metaverse. There's also Flirtual or Second Life’s Lonely Hearts Dating Agency. Nevermet launched on Valentine's Day of this year, and its goal was to completely reconfigure human nature. "We intend to change the dating market, where physical attraction will become one of several factors rather than the primary way people connect," said Cam Mullen, Nevermet's CEO. Nevermet's interface is similar to those of other dating apps like Tinder or Bumble, only instead of photos, users' profiles show their metaverse avatars. Some suggest VR is a way for people to bury their heads in the sand instead of engaging with the often uncomfortable work of being a human who's looking for love in the world. But for a lot of VR users, having access to a flourishing dating life online isn't a way to avoid the wider world; it's a way to access it. VR can also be a space for users to safely experiment with their sexual identity and/or gender expression.
Looking for Love in the Metaverse
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Three Former Trump Staffers Are Launching a Dating App for Conservatives
BUSINESS INSIDER - The Right Stuff, a conservative dating app founded by Trump administration staffers John McEntee, Daniel Huff, and Isaac Stalzer, came out of stealth last week via a video posted by the company's spokesperson, Ryann McEnany, on Twitter. On The Right Stuff, users can only identify themselves as male or female, or view profiles without pronouns. Women can earn a premium subscription by inviting friends to the platform, while men have to pay to access premium features, such as viewing more profiles, sending more likes, and seeing all of their likes at once. The Right Stuff is the latest dating app catered to conservatives that has cropped up in recent years. Others include Righter and Donald Dater. Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and outspoken Trump supporter, was reportedly pouring $1.5M into the app. Thiel has a long history of investing in startups that align with conservative values.
by Samantha Stokes & Lakshmi Varanasi
See full article at Business Insider
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Reddi - a Dating App for People Who Are Ready to Have Children
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - A performance coach who turned to solo IVF to have her son, after fearing she was running out of time to find the perfect partner, has used her experience to start a dating app for people wanting to start families. Reddi was launched in July and applicants are vetted thoroughly before being able to join. Stacy said: 'The app is just the start. We have big dreams about the future, creating both online and offline experiences for our members.
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Bumble Revamps "Bumble BFF"
TECH CRUNCH - Bumble revealed plans to strengthen its social networking features during last week's Q2 earnings to attract a new audience beyond just young singles. Bumble BFF's new offering, called Hive, may include features like group chat, polls and video calls. Bumble briefly referenced its plans for Hive on its Q2 2022 earnings call with investors, noting Hive was a "next-generation offering" focused on helping people find "platonic connections through small communities." In addition to Bumble BFF's Hive, the company is working on new astrology features, product enhancements for LGBTQIA+ users, tests of "messaging before match" features, audio and video features, and other monetization products.
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Interview With Aurora Townsend, Founder & CMO of Planet Theta
OPW INTERVIEW - Planet Theta is the world's first Virtual Reality dating app. The app's founder and CMO, Aurora Townsend, believes metaverse is the future of dating because it addresses the top concerns that people have with traditional dating apps - privacy and security.
The metaverse is considered the next step in the evolution of the Internet, but how close are we to the real experience?
Real metaverse experiences are already here, and there are many things to do in VR, such as playing poker, going out to comedy clubs, playing tennis, or shopping. As the VR user base continues to double every year, we can expect the variety and quality of metaverse experiences to scale to that need, bringing endless opportunities. This November, Planet Theta will be open to the public.
What is Planet Theta's founding story? How did you come up with the app's name?
Planet Theta's origin was covid. Most of the people I know became lonely and depressed and began looking for ways to connect and date other than meeting in person. Many of us tried group phone and video calls, but they did not fill the void. One day I was playing a VR game with a couple of friends, and it dawned on us that we may have found the answer - using VR, technology's most immersive way to connect. Theta means rebirth, and we created Planet Theta to help foster a rebirth of dating culture. We push personal interaction and chemistry back to the forefront of dating. We call it Microdating. Instead of focusing first on profiles, on Planet Theta matchmaking is about testing chemistry.
How is the app funded?
Our CEO, Chris Crew, contributed ~$1M to start the development of Planet Theta. Since then, we have raised funds from a few seed investors and are currently looking for a larger investor to help us navigate our launch. If you are interested in investing in Planet Theta, please take a look at our investor's website: https://investplanettheta.com.
What are the biggest challenges you are facing right now?
VR is expanding so fast that our target audience is an ever-changing factor of demographics as it grows. This is a unique challenge for our marketing team.
How does Planet Theta stand out from other dating apps, and how does it work? Describe the experience.
Most dating apps are matchmaking apps - there is no dating within the apps, and there is no chemistry testing, which is an essential part of any relationship. On Planet Theta, we have replaced Swiping with Microdating. A user selects Microdating within the app, and the AI sets the user up with three consecutive 75s Microdates with three users the AI thinks they may like. After each microdate, users will be prompted to rate their date with a thumbs up or down. At the end of the three microdates, users will be notified of their new "matches" (where both users gave a thumbs up) and be encouraged to invite them to a Coffee Date. Matches can chat on our associated phone app (mainly to schedule a Coffee Date) but will not be able to share pics or see each other's profiles until after going on a Coffee Date. The Coffee Date is a 3-minute date in our cafe. This is a chance to find out if you can have a good conversation. We encourage couples to go on a few dates, like taking a walk in our Enchanted Forest together or watching a new movie at our allrites© theater.
Who do you consider your biggest competitor in the metaverse space?
To our knowledge, we are building the only VR app dedicated to dating. People have been dating in VR for years on VRChat, Altspace, and other social VR apps. We don't see Social VR apps as competitors. Their environments are almost entirely user-created, allow children, and most importantly, the apps are not focused on dating. Some really cool web 2.0 apps are matchmaking apps in the traditional sense, just focused on helping people make VR connections. We see these apps as partners rather than competitors.
How do you protect your users from abuse?
A lot of our vision is about prioritizing the comfort and safety of women. Planet Theta helps them filter out who they want to meet in the physical world. There is no way to look through a list of profiles or to message random people. Users can only see the profiles of other users after going on a short coffee date in Planet Theta. Some of the more apparent features include an ability to silence, block, or report other users, we'll be using human moderators in public spaces, and of course, a personal bubble that protects your space from being intrusively invaded. The personal bubble will not be an on/off switch but a decreasing setting relative to how much time other users have spent with you in Planet Theta. The longer a couple is dating, the smaller the bubble until it disappears altogether.
Where do you see Planet Theta a year from now?
We expect Planet Theta to be the fastest-growing dating app on the market. Word of mouth will propel Planet Theta into the mainstream as women explain to their friends how much safer and easier it is to date on Planet Theta than on traditional dating apps. By next year if you haven't yet been on a VR date, I expect you'll know someone who has.
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Klerb Is a Dating & Friendship App for Booklovers
HINDUSTAN TIMES - The app named Klerb matches users with the people in the area according to their shared interests in books. "It's not a hook-up app," insists Abe Winter, the New Yorker who is developing Klerb, which is still being tested. He has a waiting list, and plans to roll out the app when he reaches enough interested users in enough geographical locations to make the algorithms work.
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Trust & Safety Connect Is Tomorrow
OPW - Trust & Safety Connect (TSC) is on Wed 17th August 11:30AM EST (New York) thru 1:00pm and is on 'Looming Legislation.' We have all stars panelists from ODA (Online Dating Association) and RealMe, and moderator Norman Petty, who is head of Trust & Safety at The Meet Group. Email mark@courtlandbrooks.com to RSVP for TSC. There are 40 places only.
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News By Company - Super Useful Reference List
OPW - One of the things that makes OPW.news special is the "News By Company" historical reference list.
Online Personals Watch was started in 2004 and we have faithfully catalogued the news on hundreds of dating apps. OPW has become quite a useful historical research tool at this stage. So, I'd like to point out a little link on the sidebar of OPW that may be useful for you. If you'd like to look up a company and see their news in summary format, along with any interviews that I may have done with them over the years, please see "News By Company", on the OPW sidebar on web, or down below if you're reading OPW on mobile. Scroll all the way to the bottom of that page to see the DeadPool, as well. Let me know any questions. ;-) - mark@courtlandbrooks.com
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Matrimony Reports FY 22-23 Q1 Results
MATRIMONY - Q1 revenues were INR 1,160M ($14.6M) which is a 10% YOY growth. The Q1 profit was INR 120M ($1.5M). Paid subscriptions grew by 13.8% and have reached 250K in the quarter. Launched in 2000, BharatMatrimony is the flagship brand of Matrimony.com.
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Meme-Based Dating App Schmooze Allows Matches to Share Memes With Each Other
TECH CRUNCH - Schmooze is designed to match users with like-minded people who want to make each other laugh. To use the app, a person swipes right to like, left to dislike, and up to love memes from a selection curated via AI. Match suggestions will pop on the screen based on meme choices, and the person can select either "Snooze" or "Schmooze." Today, Schmooze launched a new feature called "Schmooze Flirts" for users to share memes with their matches. Vidya Madhavan and Abhinav Anurag founded the startup and beta-tested it at Stanford University. In March 2021, Schmooze came out of beta. The dating app has grown to 50K users. The company raised $3.2M in seed funding.
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