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

Newborn Town: Chinese App Factory Expands Globally With Social Media and Dating Apps

SCMP - Newborn Town, a Chinese app factory, is making strides in the Southeast Asian market by developing multiple social media and dating apps. Despite increasing political scrutiny, Newborn Town has managed to embed its smaller apps into user lifestyles across various regions. The company is now expanding its focus to more mature markets like the US and Japan. The company owns a range of social media apps and has reported strong revenue growth.

by Tracy Qu
See full article at SCMP

This post also appears on VerySocialNetwork

Newborn Town to Acquire BlueCity

PR NEWSWIRE - Newborn Town has signed an agreement with Spriver to acquire Chizicheng Strategy Investment, a subsidiary of Spriver. This acquisition will make Newborn Town the controlling shareholder of BlueCity, which is owned by Chizicheng Strategy Investment. Upon completion of the acquisition, Newborn Town will consolidate the financial statements of BlueCity into its own financial statements. BlueCity is a leading player in the LGBTQ social vertical, with its flagship Blued app as the second-largest LGBTQ platform globally in terms of active users while holding the leading position in terms of users in several Asian countries and regions. Newborn Town is a company with diversified social networking services based in Hong Kong, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company was founded in 2013 and provides various social networking services such as live streaming, interactive entertainment, and audio services. Newborn Town has a global footprint and operates in key markets, including Japan, Korea, North America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

See full article at PR Newswire

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments and VerySocialNetwork

Founder of Blued Steps Down

SCMP - Ma Baoli is vacating his roles as CEO and chairman. He announced the change with a post to his personal WeChat account. "We have turned ideals into reality and made something impossible possible," Ma wrote, hinting at the difficulties of running a business catering to the LGBTQ community in a country where gay marriage is not legal and the government has taken an increasingly stringent stance against content depicting same-sex relationships. BlueCity grew revenue to reach $107.2M in 2019, the year before going public on the Nasdaq in July 2020, reaching a valuation of ~$800M. However, profitability has proven elusive as the space for LGBTQ groups online in China has shrunk in recent years. BlueCity has not announced a successor for Ma, but a company representative said it would "fulfill its obligation to disclose the information in a timely manner".

by Coco Feng
See full article at SCMP

See the top news on Blued

Newborn Town to Finish Privatizing BlueCity

PANDAILY - The privatization of LGBTQ platform BlueCity is nearing completion. It will be controlled by Metaclass Management, a fund owned by Chinese social networking product developer Newborn Town. The buyer group includes Metaclass Management, BlueCity's founder Ma Baoli, and CDH Investment. According to the agreement, BlueCity will be acquired for $3.20/share and the transaction valuation is $60M. BlueCity's operating income in 2021 was $169M.

See full article at Pandaily

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This post also appears on VerySocialNetwork

BlueCity Promotes Junchen Sun to CFO

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - BlueCity, a leading online LGBTQ platform, has promoted Mr. Junchen Sun, to CFO, effective May 19, 2022. Mr. Sun joined BlueCity in February 2017 and served as the acting CFO of the Company since May 2021.

See full article at Globe Newswire

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Q&A With BlueCity CRO Liang Zhao

PANDAILY - On April 25, BlueCity was named a winner in the World Health Organization's (WHO) first-ever Western Pacific Innovation Challenge: Innovation for the Future of Public Health. The firm won the accolade for its Internet+ HIV interventions on Blued, a world-leading online LGBTQ+ community platform connecting ~60M users.

Q: BlueCity was among the first to introduce the concept of Internet+ HIV prevention in China. Could you describe how this works?
Zhao: For HIV prevention to be effective, it must be convenient, discreet, and timely. Users can directly make appointments with ~200 testing centers in over 30 cities, and we are working to broaden this service outside of China.

Q: How do your PrEP and PEP services work?
Zhao: We provide access to HIV screening, pre-exposure prophylaxis ("PrEP"), and post-exposure prophylaxis ("PEP") solutions. Users can order such medications in major Chinese cities. We also offer express delivery of PEP medication.

Q: We know privacy and data security is a critical issue for internet companies. What does it mean for BlueCity and your LGBTQ users?
Zhao: Privacy is non-negotiable, and protecting user privacy is central to our mission. We prohibit users from taking a screenshot or recording a video while using the app. We have an anti-fraud team, and we carry out regular online safety campaigns to raise awareness.

See full article at Pandaily

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BlueCity Agrees to Go Private

GLOBENEWSWIRE - BlueCity, a leading online LGBTQ platform, has entered into a merger agreement with Multelements Limited ("Parent"), Diversefuture Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent, pursuant to which the company will be acquired in an all-cash transaction, implying an equity value of the company of ~$60M for all of the company's outstanding ordinary shares. The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

See full article at GlobeNewswire

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Blued Pledges to Strengthen Online Safety on World Consumer Rights Day

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - Blued, a world-leading online LGBTQ+ community platform, is reiterating its commitment to ensuring the safety of its users this World Consumer Rights Day with a series of in-app features and operational efforts. Blued has formed a dedicated anti-fraud team that covers security, risk control, and technical AI identification. It developed a proprietary AI identification technology in 2021 that notifies users when there is a potential risk of fraud, while it sends in-app warnings when sensitive words are detected in private chats. Blued also carries out regular online safety campaigns to raise awareness on the issue.

See full article at Yahoo Finance

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Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage Last Year?

OPW - Last year, we mentioned 281 internet dating industry brands in 1,066 posts. Although Match Group and its brands are clearly dominating this list, Bumble takes first place this time, even though only by one post. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.

1. Bumble (131 posts)
2. Tinder (130 posts)
3. Match Group (96 posts)
4. OkCupid (43 posts)
5. Hinge (42 posts)
6. Match.com (35 posts - shared)
7. Grindr (35 posts - shared)
8. The Meet Group (31 posts)
9. Blued (23 posts)
10. Spark Networks (22 posts)

See the full post at Courtland Brooks Blog

BlueCity CEO Baoli Ma Named in the Debut Edition of the Gaingels 100

PR NEWSWIRE - Baoli Ma, the founder, chairman, and CEO of BlueCity, a world-leading LGBTQ platform, has been named in the premiere edition of the Gaingels 100, an inspiring collection of LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs from around the world. He is the only mainland Chinese entrepreneur to be selected by Gaingels.

See full article at PR Newswire

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China's NewBorn Town to Set up $100M Fund to Privatise Blued

DEALSTREETASIA - Chinese social media firm NewBorn Town is planning to set up a $100M fund with an aim to privatise BlueCity Holdings, the operator of Blued, the country's biggest LGBTQ dating app. BlueCity's founder, chairman, and CEO Baoli Ma currently holds a 30.4% stake in the firm, which means that the buyer group will need to purchase the remaining 69.6% stake, or ~25.9M ADSs, for ~$48M in total. BlueCity has formed an independent special committee to evaluate and consider the going-private proposal. BlueCity started trading on Nasdaq after a $85M IPO in July 2020. Blued, which serves over 60M registered users in 170 countries and regions, offers social networking, live streaming, and health-related services to the LGBTQ community.

by Eudora Wang
See full article at DealStreetAsia

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BlueCity Receives a Buyout Proposal

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - BlueCity, a leading online LGBTQ platform, has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter from Mr. Baoli Ma, founder & CEOof the company to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares of the company that are not already beneficially owned by the Buyer Group for a proposed purchase price of US$3.70 per Ordinary Share or US$1.85 per ADS in cash.

See full article at Globe Newswire

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Blued's New Seasonal Feature Bridges Online-Offline Gatherings

PR NEWSWIRE - Blued connects 60m+ LGBTQ people worldwide, in 13 languages, across 170 countries. 'Flash' is a new event-based feature that enables users to connect in-person by opening their offline and online activities to fellow members. Already released in South Korea and Vietnam, the feature will be available in more markets in the coming festive seasons. Blued also launched Quick Chat, a live video speed dating feature, and Voice Chat Room, a vocal message feature that enables audio communications between multiple users.

See full article at PR Newswire

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Chinese LGBT Social Media App Ban Users From Posting Religious Content

BITTERWINTER - Gays in China are prohibited from talking about religion or expressing their religious beliefs on social networking apps that they usually use. If they try to do so, they will have their posts deleted or even their accounts blocked. Although Blued is famous for its success, it is less well-known that Blued explicitly prohibits religious content as a violation. Article 10 of the Blued Code of Conduct lists religion-related content as a "violation of Blued platform regulations," which list Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, religious associations, Buddhist studies, * churches, and other "prohibited words," and states that users who violate the regulations "will have their signatures, avatars and other information deleted."

by Chen Tao
See full article at BitterWinter

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BlueCity Q3 Results

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - BlueCity's total revenues reached RMB270M ($41.9M), up 9.3% YOY. Net loss was RMB73.8M ($11.5M), compared with net loss of RMB137.8M in Q3 2020. Monthly active users of BlueCity's apps reached 7.5M, up 19.3% YOY. Total paying users of BlueCity's apps reached 776K, up 57.1% compared with 494K in Q3 2020. Revenues from live streaming services reached RMB194.2M ($30.1M), down 23.9% YOY. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the average spending per paying user for live streaming services as a result of the headwinds in the talent show live streaming industry in China. Revenues from membership services reached RMB35.1M ($5.4M), up 93.1% YOY.

See full article at Globe Newswire

See the top news on Blued