THE NEXT HINT - Coffee Meets Bagel is a San Francisco-based dating app that emphasizes serious relationships with features like detailed profiles and limited matches to encourage thoughtful engagement. Launched in 2012 by sisters Arum, Dawoon, and Soo Kang, the app gained popularity after appearing on Shark Tank in 2015. Initially funded by Lightbank and a co-founder of Match.com with $600K, it later rejected a $30M offer from Mark Cuban on the show, and has since raised $23.2M in funding. However, it faced challenges such as a data leak in 2019 and a system outage in 2023. As of 2024, it struggles to gain users amidst competition from Hinge and Tinder. Coffee Meets Bagel claims to generate $16M in annual revenue.
111 posts categorized "CoffeeMeetsBagel"
The Coffee Meets Bagel's Journey
| |
Tinder Tops the Charts, Coffee Meets Bagel Dominates Singapore's Serious Dating Scene
CAMPAIGN ASIA - The latest research from YouGov Surveys shows that Tinder is the most popular dating app in Singapore, with 59% of users having used it. Coffee Meets Bagel follows closely behind, with 46% of users. Different apps attract different kinds of users: Coffee Meets Bagel is popular among those seeking serious relationships, while Tinder is favored by those looking for casual connections. Overall, 76% of Singapore residents have never used a dating app, with reasons ranging from not currently seeking a relationship to concerns about fake profiles and privacy. Despite this, 11% of singles are open to trying dating apps in the future.
by Samuel Tan
See full article at Campaign Asia
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
| |
Coffee Meets Bagel App Hit With Lawsuit Over Biometric Selfies
LAW360 - Dating app Coffee Meets Bagel was hit with a proposed class action in California federal court this week by a user claiming the company illegally stores face pictures in violation of biometric privacy laws because the app requires users to take a selfie upon creating their account.
| |
The Era of Free Dating Apps May Be Over
CNBC - The trend of free dating apps is declining as companies like Bumble, The League, Hinge, Match, and Tinder aim to increase revenue, prompting users to opt for paid versions. A Pew Research Center report reveals 35% of American dating app users have paid for these services. The League's VIP membership costs $999 a week or $2,499 a month. In Sep, Tinder rolled out a $499 monthly subscription to some of its most active users, and Hinge recently introduced a $600-a-month membership. Coffee Meets Bagel says its paid users get 60% more dates than its nonsubscribers. Pew Research has found that people who met their partner on an app are more likely to have paid for the service.
| |
Online Dating Is Very Good for Society
WASHINGTON POST - Online dating encourages diverse relationships, with couples who meet online more likely to be interracial. This has led to greater societal acceptance of interracial marriage, reaching 94% in 2021. While people may still prefer similar backgrounds, online dating opens doors to more diverse connections. A review of data provided to me by Coffee Meets Bagel shows that across all races and ethnicities, people are more likely to "like" profiles of potential partners of their own ethnic and racial backgrounds. Online dating only opens the door. People need to walk through it.
| |
Cyber Attack Causes Coffee Meets Bagel Outage; Users Offered Compensation
THE REGISTER - In late Aug, Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) suffered a week-long outage due to cybercriminals deleting company data. CMB restored services on Sep 3 and is investigating the breach's details while enhancing cybersecurity. To make amends, they offer users a package with extended chats, free subscriptions, and 1,000 free interaction beans. No sensitive data was exposed. CMB, founded by three sisters, has received $23M in funding across five investment rounds and has 10M users worldwide.
| |
Coffee Meets Bagel App Faces Extended Outage
BBC - Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB), a dating app boasting ~10M sign-ups globally, experienced a multi-day system outage starting on 27 August, frustrating many users. Some users missed planned dates, with one individual resorting to LinkedIn to reconnect. There's online speculation about the cause, ranging from a ransomware attack to potential data breaches. Amidst the company's assurances of working on the issue, users have criticized the lack of detailed information regarding the outage.
| |
Dating App Patent Held by Trinity Info Media Invalidated by U.S. Appeals Court
OBWBIP - The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the invalidation of an online dating app patent owned by Trinity Info Media (TIM), marking a blow to its enforcement campaign against owners and operators of dating apps such as Coffee Meets Bagel, Raya App, The League App, and Covalent, Inc. The court's decision relied on the Alice two-step framework, ruling that TIM's patent was too abstract and not eligible for protection under Section 101 of the Patent Statute. Despite this setback, patent litigation in the dating app space is expected to continue.
| |
Embracing "Bad Ideas" for Out-of-the-Box Marketing Strategies
LINKEDIN - In a recent LinkedIn post, Delbert Ty, CMO at CoffeeMeetsBagel, shared his unconventional approach to coming up with out-of-the-box marketing ideas/Ty suggests exploring "bad ideas" that go against self-interest, such as driving traffic to the competition. He cites CoffeeMeetsBagel's marketing strategy as an example, where they bought a billboard in New York directing casual daters to a rival app. This bold move emphasizes their focus on serious relationships. Ty offers a simple formula for adopting this strategy: 1) Think of "bad ideas" or the opposite of what you should do, 2) Spin it into a narrative that fits your brand, and 3) Allocate 80% of your resources to proven strategies, leaving room for experimentation with "bad ideas." This approach encourages creative thinking and risk-taking in marketing.
| |
Dating Apps' Patent Victories Challenged at Federal Circuit
BLOOMBERG - Grindr, eHarmony, Coffee Meets Bagel, and other dating apps are facing appeals of dismissed lawsuits that accused them of patent infringement. Wireless Discovery asked the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reconsider a pair of Delaware federal district court orders that invalidated four of its asserted patents. Wireless Discovery had accused the dating apps of infringing patents covering social media technology that helps people meet online and exchange contact information.
by Kelcee Griffis
See full article at Bloomberg
See the top news on Grindr
See the top news on eharmony
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
| |
Hong Kong Watchdog Takes Swipe at Tinder's Age Based Fees
THE STANDARD - The Consumer Council claims Tinder has an "unfair" pricing mechanism that charges users an annual subscription according to age. The council registered accounts for users aged 18 to 68 with intervals of 10 years. The highest fees are for 38-year-olds, followed by for 18-year-olds and 58-year-olds. The cheapest are for those whose ages are 28, 48 and 68. The app charges 38-year-old platinum account holders HK$1,318 annually, which is 42% higher than users from the lowest-priced group. The watchdog urged Tinder to make rectifications. The council also found dating apps reveal users' personal information for marketing and advertising after a trial of nine popular ones in Hong Kong between October and December. The nine tested were Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel, Goodnight, Heymandi, OkCupid, Omi, Paktor, SweetRing and Tinder. All were found to have preset permission to use account owners' data, including name, gender, sexual orientation, date of birth, location, e-mail address and phone number for marketing or advertising. Only three apps allowed users to opt-out. Age is not covered under Hong Kong's anti-discrimination laws, an Equal Opportunities Commission spokesman said.
by Eunice Lam
See full article at Teh Standard
Mark Brooks: Do you think Tinder, and nay, the industry at large, make rectifications? Is age-based pricing logical and justifiable, or just wholly unfair? Your comments, please.
| |
Dating Sunday Is the Best Day for Those Returning to Dating Apps
STYLIST.CO.UK - Some experts predict that 'Dating Sunday' will be the best day to be on a dating app in 2023. 'Dating Sunday' (which this year falls on Sunday 8 January 2023) refers to singles joining new dating apps or returning to old favorites on the first Sunday of the year. Typically, dating apps experience a massive surge in users and activity on Dating Sunday. In 2018, Coffee Meets Bagel saw a 75% increase on the first Sunday of the year compared to the previous 30 days, while Tinder experienced a 41% jump in downloads. Inner Circle, meanwhile, is expecting a 40% increase in new members on Dating Sunday 2023.
by Leah Sinclair
See full article at Stylist.co.uk
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
See the top news on Inner Circle
| |
Delbert Ty - CMO of Coffee Meets Bagels - How Regional Disparities in Maturity Can Help Us Predict the Future
LTR - Delbert has been building businesses and making impactful brands for the last 15+ years. He started his career in P&G working on its most iconic brands. He then took his talent to the world of technology and startups. Now he is CMO of Coffee Meets Bagel. He emphasizes that CMB focuses on delivering the highest quality matches looking for long-term relationships. It is designed for serious intent & efficiency.
Delbert predicts the future of the dating industry with analogies such as laundry. Laundry has its own kind of convergence. He maps that convergence and compares this to the dating industry convergence. People me people at work, and througn friends, and matchmaking services, and then the web came along. That's where the first generation of online dating services, match, eHarmony, OkCupid, and then eventually mobile came along. Online dating really exploded in popularity and homogenized. He believes everything eventually follows the same trajectory.
We have a very extended Q&A session with Delbert where we discuss the rise of influencer marketing and it's challenges.
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 vPaaS by Meet Group and Courtland Brooks
| |
Swiping Right On AI
FORBES - Jennifer Flashman, Tinder's director of analytics, explained that in leveraging AI to build better user experiences, the future of dating will increasingly occur over texts and DMs rather than blind dates and phone calls. AI apps are only as good as the data behind them. AI can help recommend the perfect TV show, and it can even help us find a life partner. Hinge has a "Most Compatible" feature, which analyzes a user's preferences and sends recommendations of matches that it thinks will be a particularly good fit. Coffee Meets Bagel shares a selection of curated profiles for users to look at each day at noon via their "smart algorithm". AI could even help combat catfishing and creepy messages. Tinder's "Are You Sure?" algorithm scans messages and compares them against text that's been reported for inappropriate language in the past.
by James Freeze
See full article at Forbes
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Hinge
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
| |
Circles.Life's Delbert Ty Takes on Global CMO Role at Coffee Meets Bagel
MARKETING INTERACTIVE - Former Circles.Life head of marketing, Delbert Ty, has joined dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel as global CMO. In his new role, Ty will be responsible for scaling the growth of CMB, while reporting to CEO Arum Kang. Ty has also had marketing experience working with the likes of Duracell and P&G.
| |