NECN - Aug 11 - Yubo, has become a dating app for young teens. It was launched in France in 2015 and in 2018 rebranded from Yellow, it's original name, to Yubo. The app gained popularity in the U.S. during Covid-19. The app claims 25M users worldwide (60% from North America).
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Dating Apps Gaining Ground in Socially Conservative Pakistan
SEEKING ALPHA - Aug 11 - Dating apps like Tinder look to gain some ground amid changing attitudes around casual dating in socially conservative regions like Pakistan. Dating for women is still frowned upon in the heavily patriarchal society, but attitudes are changing in the cities, where single women are increasingly using the apps to connect with partners. Most Tinder users in the country are 18-40 and come from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Bumble is also gaining ground, as is Muzmatch.
by Jason Aycock
See full article at Seeking Alpha
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on Muzmatch
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Eye Meets Soul: A Quarantine Matchmaking Project for Muslims
RELIGION NEWS - Aug 10 - Binta Diallo and her friends were nearly finished binge-watching Netflix dating reality show "Love Is Blind" when the idea hit. In "Love Is Blind," contestants spend several days speed dating without ever laying eyes on one another. Couples who fall in love agree to get engaged, sight unseen. In April, Diallo and a friend launched Eye Meets Soul, a virtual blind matchmaking experience for U.S. Muslim millennials. They designed the project so that personal appearance, race and ethnicity would not be first considerations. In April, when Eye Meets Soul held its first session, organizers randomly selected 10 men and 10 women from the 50 applications they received after posting about the project on Instagram. Each of the singles spoke to two people daily for five days through Zoom. If there was a match, Diallo connected the pair offline so they could pursue things on their own. Out of the potential 10 couples, three matches occurred. One particular relationship seems to be thriving, she said. Applications for the second session, scheduled for early September, are open.
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Mumbai Is Hotbed of Sugar Dating, Delhi Close Second
THE PRINT - Aug 10 - With a surge in unemployment rates and the fear of an uncertain future brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, many young Indians are turning to sugar dating. According to SeekingArrangement, Mumbai is the hotbed for sugar dating in India, with 6,246 sugar babies and 21,464 sugar daddies, followed by New Delhi with 3,447 sugar babies and 13,127 sugar daddies. Hyderabad trails closely behind with 1,218 sugar babies and 11,784 sugar daddies. SeekingArrangement launched in 2006, but the India operations are currently run out of Malaysia.
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IDEA Webinar Video: Dare to Date: Dating in a Time of Pandemic
OPW - Aug 7 - How should online dating companies continue to meet the needs of their users while promoting safe behaviors? This is the 5th IDEA Webinar. The United States and Europe are experiencing a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, which may last well into the new year. In this special IDEA webinar, Mark Brooks discusses the influence of the ongoing pandemic with Geoff Cook, CEO of the Meet Group, along with the members of the group's Safe Dating Advisory Board. Epidemiologists, Dr. Melissa Sharp and Dr. Tali Elfassy, along with infectious disease expert, Dr. Anu Hazra, provide science-based suggestions for addressing the risks of coronavirus in online dating.
Key recommendations include:
- Encourage the use of video and chat to thoroughly evaluate matches prior to meeting in-person, and replacing in-person first dates with video dates · Users should discuss risk factors, such as potential exposures, living situation, and work-related risks, prior to meeting in-person
- Promote the use of masks, social distancing, and other preventative measures to reduce exposure risks · If an in-person date is to occur, be creative and choose activities that are outdoors and allow for social distancing, limit indoor activities and high-exposure risk locations
- Discourage users from relying on test results posted by other members as proof of safety, these tests may be unreliable, outdated, or may never have been done
- Social interactions and dating are an integral part of society, but it is important to adhere to local governmental guidance and supplied information
- When in doubt, err on the side of caution.
PANELISTS
~ Dr. Anirrudha Hazra, an internal medicine and infectious diseases physician certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
~ Dr. Tali Elfassy, an epidemiologist and Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
~ Dr. Melissa Sharp, an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland with expertise in meta-research and observational mixed-methods research.
~ Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group.
HOST
~ Mark Brooks, President IDEA.gp & CEO Courtland Brooks.
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The Meet Group Q2 Financial Results - Revenue up 74% YOY
BUSINESSWIRE - Aug 6 - Total revenue was $90.3M, up 74% YOY. Net income was $10.4M, compared with net income of $2.2M in Q2 2019. "We expect to close our acquisition by ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic by the end of this year," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. "We have received antitrust clearance in the US, Germany and Austria, and our stockholders have approved the transaction."
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Dating App LOKO Hits Canada
THE CANADIAN PRESS - Aug 7 - LOKO, a video-only dating app co-developed by Canadian comedian Norm MacDonald has launched in Canada. LOKO features video profiles of its users instead of photos, and allows them to set up virtual dates. Macdonald developed the app with entrepreneur and actor Vivek Jain of Regina. The two have already launched it in other countries including the U.S. and Germany. It's available for free, but to connect and set a date, users must pay a weekly subscription of $1.99 or $3.99 monthly.
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Hello Africa Dating App Connects Africans
LEADERSHIP.NG - Aug 7 - Hello Africa is a mobile dating app connecting 30+ M Africans in the diaspora. The app requires each user to first select their African "Heritage Country", "Tribe", and then select their African "Heritage(s) of Interest". If two users "swipe right" on each other they can exchange text and voice messages.
by Solomon Nda-Isaiah
See full article at Leadership.ng
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Matrimony Reports Strong Net Profit Growth of 38%
EQUITY BULLS - Aug 5 - Matrimony.com Limited, the leading online matrimony company, announced its Q1 2020 financial results. Q1 revenue totalled Rs 86.8 crores ($11.6M), down 9% YOY. Net profit grew 38% YOY to Rs 9.4 crores ($1.3M). Murugavel Janakiraman, Chairman and Managing Director said, "We were able to minimize the impact caused by COVID-19 in the quarter and we have returned to a growth trajectory in June.
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Match Confirms Plans for Tinder Platinum
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 5 - Tinder is testing a new top-level subscription plan, Tinder Platinum, which it expects to roll out in Q4. Match described the subscription as providing additional value beyond Tinder's current paid plan, Tinder Gold, but noted the feature was still in the very early stages of testing and was essentially still considered a minimum viable product. According to a U.K.-based Tinder user, the offer for Platinum popped up when they were using Tinder on the web. But they weren't able to make a purchase. The image showed price points as £5.97 per month if on an annual plan, £8.35 per month if on a six-month plan or £14.32 per month if paying monthly.
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Match Group's BLK Dating App Launches BLKVoices
DALLAS INNOVATES - Aug 4 - Dallas-based dating app BLK, a subsidiary of Match Group, has created a new in-app feature called #BLKVoices to create a space for users to share their opinions on social and cultural topics. Since launching in August 2017, the BLK app has had ~3M downloads, making it the largest dating app for Black singles. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the engagement encourages conversations around racism and discrimination.
by Sophia Gonzales
See full article at Dallas Innovates
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Gleeden Survey: Why People Commit Infidelity
THE TIMES OF INDIA - Aug 5 - Gleeden, an extramarital dating app, has found out that ~75% of its users are willing to meet their love interests if provided an opportunity. ~45.6% of users think that their shared intimacy won't affect their current relationship while 47% of them believe that they cannot share the same level of emotions with two different people. 37% of people commit infidelity because they want to try out something new or spice up their existing relationship. 36% of people commit infidelity because they are in love with someone else.
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New CheckPlus Tool Brings Safety to Offline Meetups
PR NEWSWIRE - Aug 5 - UrSafe partners with RealMe to create CheckPlus, the first-to-market tool that empowers dating apps and online marketplaces with comprehensive risk evaluation via in-app, off-app and offline protection. The tool also leverages Contextual AI from Spectrum Labs, which helps online dating companies recognize toxic behavior in real-time across multiple languages, including solicitation, sexual harassment, sexual grooming, trafficking, and other disruptive behaviors on apps. With access to CheckPlus, users will benefit from RealMe's security services that confirm a user's true identity prior to a meetup. UrSafe is a voice-activated personal safety app fully integrated with 911. RealMe is a transformative new technology solution providing a turnkey, no-cost way to protect people on dating apps and other online marketplaces.
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Say Allo Launches Live Video Speed Dating
ACCESSWIRE - Aug 5 - To celebrate the launch, Say Allo will be hosting its first "Live" video speed dating event on Sunday, August 9th at 7pm. Say Allo Live Key Features:
- Before a date is revealed, user profiles begin to unblur while responding to questions that are designed to break the ice between the two users.
- Women get the first move.
- No personal information is shared prior, during or after a video date. Say Allo Live events will be held weekly on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays starting at 7pm.
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