Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Q&A With Bae Founder Brian Gerrard About His Role At Tagged

BLACK ENTERPRISE - July 31 - Black singles dating app Bae was recently acquired by Tagged, a social app with one of the largest African-American user bases. Tagged decided that the founders Brian and Justin Gerrard should be part of the deal in an acquisition that is known as an "acqui-hire."

Q: What made you initially decide to start Bae?
A: I started Bae because I made a decision that I wanted to build things that positively impact my community.

Q: How did Bae's "acqui-hire" happen with Tagged?
A: Bae and Tagged coming together was a convergence of complementary skill sets. They wanted our marketing and branding expertise to complement their technical acumen. Tagged grew to ~300M users without doing any marketing. My brother and I founded Tagged's marketing team and added ~1M new users. With The Meet Group acquiring us, we now have the ability to make sure everyone knows who we are and invest in expanding our brand.

by Sequoia Blodgett
See full article at Black Enterprise

See all posts on Bae
See all posts on Tagged / if(we)

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Bae Was Acquired By If(we), Parent Company Of Tagged

FAST COMPANY - Jan 5 - Bae, the dating app for African-American millennials, was just acquired by if(we), the parent company of Tagged. The Bae name is being retired and its users will be streamlined into Tagged and its global dating pool. Bae was cofounded in 2013 by tech-savvy brothers Brian and Justin Gerrard, and friend Jordan Kunzika. Bae (Before Anyone Else) received 17K downloads in its first month. Brian and Justin will move to San Francisco to lead marketing and growth across if(we)'s entire portfolio, which includes Tagged, Hi5, Fandom, and new social streaming site WeChill.

by Lindsay Goldwert
See full article at Fast Company

See all posts on Bae
See all posts on Tagged / if(we)

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Two Young Brothers Taking On Tinder

TIME.COM - May 25 - Two brothers, Justin and Brian Gerrard started Bae, a dating app that works pretty much like Tinder, but tailor-made for black users. The Gerrards came up with the idea after they realized how difficult it is for black singles to find dates on existing platforms. The Gerrards have three full-time and three part-time employees. They're not yet making money, but they hope to do so soon, perhaps through advertising. Bae received an angel investment last year before kicking off a seed round at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this month.

by Charlotte Alter
See full article at Time.com

See all posts on BAE

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Students Build Bae, An App For Black Singles

TECH CRUNCH - Mar 25 - Bae (Before Anyone Else) is a mobile dating app for Black people created by three students - Jordan Kunzika, Brian Gerrard and Justin Gerrard. They hosted an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) tour which consisted of parties and mixers where people who matched on Bae could meet in person. Within a few weeks of their April 2015 launch, they reached 17K downloads, and have grown over ten times since. Similar to other dating apps, Bae users swipe right for those they're interested in and left for those they're not. According to the founders what makes Bae different is their algorithm to offer better matches.

by Kaya Thomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on BAE

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Are Black Dating Apps Necessary?

FUSION - Oct 1 - Bae, a dating app which stands for Before Anyone Else, is aimed at black singles. Bae is not the only one but with ~100,000 downloads since April, it may be the biggest. A competitor, Meld, intended for more serious-minded black professionals, doesn’t disclose its user base, but says it has matched 3K couples since its debut last year. There’s also Soul Swipe and The League. According to an experiment by Anne Helen Petersen at Buzzfeed last year, the "more" black a user registers as, the less likely he or she will get a right swipe. Education and wealth help, but users of color still appear to be at a disadvantage.

by Collier Meyerson
See full article at Fusion

See all posts on BAE
See all posts on Meld
See all posts on The League

Summarized by

BAE Is A New Dating App For Black Singles

ATLANTA BLACK STAR - Sep 4 - BAE (Before Anyone Else) is a new mobile dating app that caters specifically to African-American singles. The founders launched the app at Howard University in April, and received ~17K downloads in its first month, outperforming an early Tinder. Potential suitors can only engage via chat if there is a match. Members are also limited to viewing 30 photos every eight hours, and an algorithm tracks user behavior in order to predict compatibility.

by Ayesha K. Faines
The full article was originally published at Atlanta Black Star, but is no longer available.

Summarized by