GIZMODO - Dec 10 - Renowned Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church has focused his work on reversing the effects of aging, helping humans become immune to viruses, and eradicating genetic diseases. He is building a dating app based on ideal DNA pairings. The goal is to screen out sexual partnerships that could create a child with genetic diseases. George Church has co-founded ~35 startups and received funding from Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire investor facing charges of sex trafficking dozens of underage girls.
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Jeffrey Epstein-Funded Geneticist Is Building a Dating App
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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
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
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Gray & Farrar Matchmaking Company Loses VAT Dispute
ACCOUNTANCY DAILY - Dec 9 - Gray & Farrar, an upmarket matchmaking business has failed in its bid at a First Tier Tribunal (FTT) to overturn a demand from HMRC for VAT due on the services it provides. Gray & Farrar argued that it should not be charged VAT on its services for the tax years 2012 through 2016. The company runs an exclusive dating service which provides clients with introductions to potential romantic partners, hand-picked for them by an adviser rather than by online dating apps. Clients sign up for a 12-month membership, which gives ~ eight introductions, starting from £15,000 a year. For VAT purposes, Gray & Farrar treated its service as a consultancy, which meant that clients resident outside the EU were not charged UK VAT on its fees. HMRC rejected Gray & Farrar's attempt to adopt a zero VAT status on the services provided and this saw the company appeal at tribunal. The case is a useful reminder for advisory businesses to think carefully about whether their service constitutes "consultancy” when determining the place of supply of their services to overseas clients."
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Positive Singles Launches POZ Gay Dating Service
NEWSWIRE - Dec 9 - Positive Singles launches its POZ gay dating services. The service aims to help singles with STD find love.
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IDEA Launches Social Safety Badge for Dating Apps
BUSINESSWIRE - Dec 9 - IDEA (The Internet Dating Excellence Association) is launching the Social Safety Badge and Guidelines for high quality dating apps. "The goal of this badge is to help users identify dating, matchmaking and social apps that are distinguished in their commitment to a safe and exceptional experience for users," said IDEA President Mark Brooks.
The guidelines cover:
- Respect For Others
- Respect For The Rights Of Others
- Respect For Minors
- Respect For The Community
- Respect For Larger Community
The following dating apps are in the initial launch group and have signed on to the badge, stating that they will adhere to the guidelines:
- CitySwoon
- GlobalMuslimMatch
- Happn
- Jaumo
- LunchClick
- MeetMe
- muzmatch
- Namoro
- Once
- Say Allo
- Skout
- Tagged
- Vouch
IDEA was formed in 2007 as the Internet Dating Executive Alliance and changed to the Internet Dating Excellence Association in 2018. The group is made up of 700+ dating industry executives and dating company leaders and innovators from around the world.
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French Court: Dating Site Can Keep Promoting Cheating
LIVINGSTON LEDGER - Dec 6 - A French court has thrown out a complaint by a federation of Catholic families that dating site Gleeden's business model is illegal and anti-social because it encourages extramarital affairs. A Paris civil court ruled Thursday that promoting infidelity in ads isn't unlawful because adultery isn't a criminal offense in France and because cheating on one's spouse isn't necessarily a civil violation.
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Tinder's Year in Swipe - Topics Singles Loved in 2019
MIRROR.CO.UK - Dec 5 - From the most popular emojis, the most attractive likes and interests and what people are looking for in a potential match - here's Tinder's 2019 in swipe.
Most used words in bios - Real, Lit, Cause/Mission, Stan, Tea, Travel, Woke, Connection, Explore, Snack; top topics in bios - Vegan, Brexit, Meghan and Harry, Keto, Climate Crisis, Boris Johnson; top entertainment topics in bios - Game of Thrones, Love Island, Fleabag, Lewis Capaldi, JLO, Ariana Grande; fastest growing Tinder cities - Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Leicester.
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Scruff CEO: Why LGBT+ Dating Apps Should Be Run by LGBT+ People
GCN - Dec 5 - Eric Silverberg, CEO of Scruff, shared why he believes it is important that gay dating apps be run by gay people. Scruff originally began in the gay bear community but has expanded to be used by a diverse cross section of the gay community. People use the app to find hookups, dates and to plan travel. Scruff prides itself as a friendly and safe space on the Internet. Scruff is actually one of only a small few gay dating apps which are owned and operated by gay people. "If you have leaders who are not a part of the community, you can't influence them via social and emotional appeals, only through economic appeals, Mr Silverber says. "The people at a company have to use their own product – there's a very fundamental principle in that."
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Pheramor, the DNA Dating Startup, Shuts Down
INNOVATION MAP - Dec 5 - Brittany Barreto has teamed up with Bin Huang to start a dating app, called Pheramor, that factored in user DNA. They raised millions for the company, hired a team from across the country, and signed up users in all 50 states. Though, Pheramor's growth came to a sudden stop this year when Apple pulled the app from its store, and there was nothing the founders or their investors could do about it. "They are gatekeepers in innovation," Barreto learned the hard way. Barreto got a call from an Apple representative explaining that the her app had been pulled from the store. New App Store rules forbid dating apps from procuring DNA samples from users. Once the DNA element was removed from the app, Pheramor would be allowed back on, Barreto was told. "That was our differentiator," she says. For the next three weeks, Barreto called every app reviewer at Apple and challenged each "no" she got. Her request went to the very top, before receiving one final, inarguable "No." Barreto paid back investors by ~5%. She also realized the difference of working with investors who are new to the process. "I learned a lesson of taking money from people who are not experienced investors will cause you headaches along the way," she says.
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Tim Schiffers, CEO of Parship, About Why eharmony Was a Good Match
PROSIEBENSAT1 - Dec 5 - Parship Group is the leading provider of serious matchmaking services. In addition to the well-known brands Parship and ElitePartner, eharmony has also been part of the Group since 2018. The acquisition of eharmony was a perfect match, said Tim Schiffers, the CEO. eharmony is considered the icon of online dating and established the market in the US back in 2000. By acquiring eharmony, the company is taking another step towards its internationalization. Besides the likewise positioning, there are also similarities regarding the product approach: After the registration process, singles fill in a questionnaire, which then determines specific features of their partnership personality. Based on the results, the matching process is being conducted. For Parship, this process is being achieved along the lines of "as many things in common as possible, as many differences as necessary". In the future, we are going to apply this successful approach to eharmony. The company focus is now on increasing eharmony's attractiveness and relevance for a broader population.
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Muzproposal: Muslim Bumble-like Dating App
METRO.CO.UK - Dec 5 - Muzproposal is a new dating app aimed specifically at Muslims. It only lets women make the first move. Women have to message the matches in 48h, if they fail the match will be deleted. The app is free but if users buy the premium version, the ball is in anyone's court. Muzproposal also has real-life events at venues across British Colombia, Canada.
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Dating.com Group Announces Business Development Plans for 2020
PR NEWSWIRE - Dec 4 - Dating.com Group, the parent company of Dating.com, Dil Mil, Lovinga, Tubit, TripTogether, announced its plans to focus on expanding into the Asian market in 2020. Dating.com Group has recently acquired Dil Mil. Jev Golinejs, Dating.com Group CLO, said: "The deal with Dil Mil has increased the profit of Dating.com Group at up to $250M.
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Q&A With Joey Levin, Online Dating Guru From IAC
BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK - Dec 5 - Levin was a junior investment banker at Credit Suisse First Boston when Barry Diller brought him over to IAC/Interactive Corp. in 2003; 12 years later, he succeeded him as CEO. IAC is spinning off the Match Group so the market can more easily value smaller IAC businesses, such as video platform Vimeo. In July, Levin invested $250M in Turo, which lets people rent out their cars when they're not driving them.
Q: What's the secret to competing with Big Tech, as you do with Facebook in dating?
A: They'll always have distribution and cost advantages. We can have a better product. We've got a group of people who eat, breathe, sleep, and live dating. Their product is free. Some of our products are not free. That's a signal of a commitment.
Q: Why spin off businesses like Match Group? Why not become an Internet conglomerate?
A: We're not empire builders. If we're going to keep building new businesses, we've got to focus. Eliminating the thing that starts to make life easy and focusing on the hard things is how you build them up.
Q: What's the one thing you learned from Diller that continues to shape IAC?
A: Thinking bigger. "Why aim for $20M in revenue? Why not $200M? Why not $2B?"
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Beauty Brands Are Partnering With Bumble
GLOSSY - Dec 4 - Bumble is offering its users daily, weekly and monthly giveaways from beauty, lifestyle and fashion brands. Six companies participated including Becca, Erno Lazslo, True Botanicals, Love Wellness, Ouai and Ipsy. While brands did not have to pay to participate, they did commit to gifting four products for the giveaways, and promoting the partnership through their own Instagram and email.
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IDEA SUMMIT Europe, at Spark Networks
OPW - Dec 4 - IDEA SUMMIT Europe went very well today at Spark Networks HQ, with a veritable who's who of the dating and online matchmaking industry. (www.idea.gp)
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