BLOOMBERG LAW - IAC/InterActiveCorp. and Match Group have hired well-known trial lawyer Bill Carmody to defend the companies in a $2B lawsuit by Tinder founder Sean Rad set to go to trial in less than three weeks. Rad and Tinder founders allege IAC and Match Group artificially devalued Tinder before the group could exercise stock options in the online dating platform. They claim the companies provided false information and covered up sexual misconduct accusations against a former Match Group executive as part of the scheme.
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Match, IAC Tap High-Profile Litigator for $2B Tinder Suit
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Ashley Madison Turns Its Focus to Women, Gen Z
CAMPAIGN LIVE - The dating site for married people suffered a major hack in 2015. It was unclear how Ashley Madison would recover. But since then, the site has made a turnaround. In 2020, Ashley Madison's user base grew to 70M, up 5.5M registrations from the year prior and from ~40M in 2015. Men are charged to contact someone on the site, but women are able to register for free. On average, there are 10 male active accounts for every seven active female accounts. To change that ratio, Ashley Madison is focusing on marketing to women. The average Ashley Madison user is between 30 to 35 years old, but the dating site has already set its eyes on Generation Z. The Site's collaboration with Sells, who creates TikTok videos about love and sex, is a key component of that strategy.
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Mark Brooks - Top Twelve Internet Dating News Stories for 2021
OPW - Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, continuously monitors Internet Dating industry news and related developments. 2021 has been an exciting year, as companies adapt and grow through the changing global environment. Bumble, which recently went public, posted Q2 2021 revenues of $186M with an operating loss of $10M. Match Group ended 2020 with nearly $2.4B in revenue and operating income of $743M, and acquired Hyperconnect this year. Apple has been prohibited from blocking outside payments in the Epic court ruling, which is pivotal as app spending is projected to reach $270B by 2025. ParshipMeet is preparing a 2022 IPO, and Chinese dating app Soul is also seeking a U.S. IPO. Tinder is releasing ID verification worldwide, while also testing a virtual currency system. Dating Group has acquired Cupid Media. Clover and Snack have raised capital, with $12M and $3.5M in new funding, respectively. Mark Brooks reviews the top industry news and provides additional commentary in the latest video in the LTR Conference series.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
The September LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by The Meet Group & Courtland Brooks.
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Tinder India Announces Multiple New Features
REPUBLICWORLD.COM - Tinder is going to add a new Explore section in its app for India. Along with the Explore section, the company plans to introduce multiple new experiences. For instance, profiles will not be arranged by user's interest, and users will have more control over their interaction with other people on the app. The Tinder Explore section will allow users to explore matches based on users' interests and activity. Additionally, there is a new photo verification feature as well, which will enable users to authenticate their presence with real-time selfies.
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To Make Real Money With an iOS App, Offer Entertainment, Gaming, or Dating
ABC MONEY - By the end of 2021, Statista estimates that mobile apps will generate ~$693B in revenue through paid downloads and in-app advertising, up 17.6% YOY. This amount is expected to continue increasing to $935B by 2023. The Apple App Store generated $21.5B in consumer spending in the Q3 of 2021, compared to just $12.1B on the Google Play Store, a 55% difference. In August 2021, the Apple store launched ~32,500 unique apps, with a total of 2.22M estimated to be available for download on the store. The vast majority of apps on the top 50 list fall into the entertainment, gaming, or dating genres. Two of the top ten spots on the Apple Store's top-grossing list belong to Tinder (2nd) and Bumble (8th), with an honorable mention of Hinge occupying number 28 on the top chart.
by Claire James
See full article at ABC Money
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Announcing Trust & Safety Connect Event on 'Offline Conduct'
OPW - Trust & Safety Connect (TSC) is on Wed 27th October starting 11am EST (New York) and for this quarterly online event we're focused on 'offline conduct.' We have a half hour of networking on virtual tables, then a 45 minute panel with three world-class panelists from East Meet East, Grindr and Inner Circle and moderator Norman Petty, who is head of Trust & Safety at The Meet Group, and then another short networking session. 1.5 hours all-in.
If you hold a full time leadership role at an Internet dating company then you are welcome to join IDEA for free, and welcome to join TSC (and LTR) events for free. See the Trust & Safety Connect speakers and invite page here. Email [email protected] to RSVP for TSC. There are 40 places only.
Trust & Safety Connect is kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, Women in Dating and Courtland Brooks
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Match Acquisition Strategy
OPW - This week, a startup CEO asked me what acquirers are looking for. I think Sam Yagan spells it out quite nicely in this video. Sam Yagan presided over Match at the time that they acquired Tinder.
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Raya and the Promise of Private Social Media
THE NEW YORKER - Raya is the rare social network that ensures that all of its users are who they say they are. Since it launched in Los Angeles, in 2015, it has gained a reputation as the "celebrity dating app" and "Illuminati Tinder." The app is private; aspiring users must undergo an application process that can stretch on for months. Once accepted, members must adhere to a rigid code of silence - no exposing other people's profiles and no screenshotting within the app. Even tweeting too much about Raya, or publicly mentioning another member, can be grounds for a ban. Raya was launched by Daniel Gendelman out of his apartment in West Hollywood. Most social-media platforms rely on selling ads. Raya, instead, charged a subscription fee of $7.99 per month (now $9.99). The app's popularity was driven by FOMO. In 2020, Raya added a series of new features including its Directory, a kind of bespoke Rolodex that allows members to search one another by city, industry, or company. You can find a Raya-approved architect or graphic designer to plan a renovation or make a portfolio. According to the company, the Directory has seen more than a million searches to date.
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Tinder Is Releasing a New 'Plus One' Feature to Help Users Find a Wedding Date
TECH CRUNCH - Tinder is rolling out a new way for its users to find a plus one for the upcoming end-of-year wedding season. The new feature is accessible within Tinder's Explore section, which launched last month and offers ways to discover matches by interests and more. Starting today, the first 100 eligible Tinder users to join Plus One will receive $460 to help cover the costs associated with upcoming weddings, such as travel, gifts and accommodations.
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Match Group Celebrates Dutch Court Decision to Curb in-App Apple Payments
FORTUNE - Match Group's CEO Shar Dubey has long argued the in-app payment policies that force app developers to exclusively use these payment systems were unfair. Apple's in-store payment policies, which take commissions that range between 15% and 30%, have long drawn complaints from app developers, who first filed their complaint to the Dutch court in 2019. The case was later whittled down to just cover dating apps. As 98% of users download Match Group's apps from either the Apple or Google app stores - which Dubey refers to as the "gatekeepers of the Internet" - the commission creamed off the top has forced Match Group to increase prices for consumers and has prevented it from making investments in the business. This year alone, Match Group expects to pay transaction fees of ~$500M to Apple and Google; it is currently looking to build an alternative-payment option.
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Egyptian Matchmaking App Hawaya Officially Launches in France
CAIRO SCENE - Hawaya has already expanded into 12 countries in 2020, helping facilitate relationships all across the Muslim diaspora. Now, the app is launching in France, a country with ~6M Muslims. Since its founding in 2017 by Sameh Saleh, Tamer Saleh and Shaymaa Ali, Hawaya is now one of the most popular muslims matchmaking apps globally with 5M users across 13 countries.
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Dating App Entwine Takes Sexual Expectations out of Dating
OPW - Entwine is a new dating app, founded by a Chicago area woman and breast cancer survivor. The app is for those who can't or don't want to have intercourse due to personal or medical reasons. Anna Leonarda came up with the idea of Entwine Dating while recovering from breast cancer and going through a divorce.
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Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd Is Looking Ahead 'Decades Not Days'
FORBES - After a $2.2B IPO last February, Bumble dating app founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is operating "business as usual". Shares on the Nasdaq sagged to $40 in the summer after debuting at $76. "I'm not obsessed with the stock," she said, "I'm obsessed with the customer, the team, the innovation we're planning for the future." "If you're trying to get to that next milestone, don't focus on the short-term. Stay married to the long-term vision," Wolfe Herd told the audience of Forbes 30 Under 30 list honorees.
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Vietnamese Dating App Fika Raised $1.6M
TECH IN ASIA - Fika was founded in 2020 by Denise Sandquist and Oscar Xing Luo who have professional backgrounds in finance and AI. It focuses on improving women's experiences in meeting people online. After signing up, all users must pass a verification check. Once they're in, users can look through AI-suggested matches based on their interests. Fika will use the new funds to expand its team, improve its AI, and grow its user base in Vietnam. The app is tailored to Vietnam, where it has 750K downloads and 40% of its users are women.
by Roehl Niño Bautista
See full article at Tech in Asia
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
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