OPW - The Online Dating (Investors) Summit was hosted by New Street Research (NSR) with assistance from Courtland Brooks. Institutional investors and Match Group / Tinder, Grindr presented. In addition Courtland Brooks had guests: 12 CEOs of leading dating companies. Mark Brooks interviewed the CEO of happn, Karima ben Abdelmalek in one session. Mark also interviewed a panel of notable CEOs, namely Joel Simkhai, Founder of Grindr and Motto, and Carsten Boltz, CEO of Online Personals Group, and Paul Rider, CEO of SALT.
Here are the top ten things I learned from the sessions with Match, Tinder and Grindr. CEOs
MATCH GROUP - Bernard (CEO) and Gary (CFO)
1. They are shooting for Hinge reaching $822m revenue in 2025, and $400m in 2023. Its around $300m now. Through global expansion and improved monetization.
2. They are rolling at HingeX at $50 a month. Hinge Plus, meanwhile, went down from $35 to $30/mo.
3. Malgosia Green (POF's former CEO) agreed to move to Asia and now heads Hyperconnect.
4. Bernard doesn't see a gap in management that requires a CEO for Tinder. He assumes both now, and will continue to do so.
TINDER
5. Claims more LGBTQ representation than any other general dating app. Has doubled in size.
6. The League inspired them to start experimenting with a $500+/mo pricepoint. Ran a smoke test and 30% are clicking through to check it out. 70% of those clicking through are under 30.
GRINDR
7. In summer 2022 they tried their first a la carte offering. 1 hour boosts were successful.
8. They will move away from ads. Currently 15% of revenue, but this will go down.
9. Ads are the thing users complain about most.
10. There is a massive tailwind for Grindr Internationally are more countries open up to them from a Government / legal perspective. i.e. more acceptance of LGBTQ
This event will happen again. Watch this space. Overall, it was a great initiative, with 18 leading CXOs in attendance, and ~40 institutional investors coming through to talk to us.
See the top news on Match Group
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Grindr
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