HAWAYA - Feb 15th is the last day for Hawaya, a Cairo-based dating app founded in April 2017 by four Egyptian entrepreneurs. Match Group acquired Hawaya in Oct 2019. Shutting down Hawaya is a part of Match Group's new strategy for 2023, focusing on growing brands.
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Hawaya, Match Group-Owned Dating App for Muslims, Is Shutting Down
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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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Hawaya Lets Muslims Find Their Lifetime Bae With Smart Algorithms
MASHABLE - June 11 - Hawaya is a matrimonial app out of Egypt that's tailored for "safe and conservative matchmaking". The name Hawaya itself was inspired by the Arabic word 'hawa', which translates to 'love'. According to Hawaya, in 2020 alone, one in three men on the app reported that they aimed to get married as soon as possible. ~50% of Hawaya matches engaged in two-way conversations. With the help of an algorithm and an AI engine, users are matched with compatible matches, based on their answers in tandem with their regular left-or-right swipes.
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Egyptian Matchmaking App 'Hawaya' Hits 4 Million Users
STARTUP MGZN - June 2 - Hawaya, the Cairo-born matchmaking app, reached the 4M user milestone, after expanding outside of Egypt over the past year. The app currently operates in 12 new countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, as well as France, Germany, UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, US and Canada.
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Hawaya Study Shows That 83% of Muslims in Germany Are in Favor of Equality in Partnerships
PRESS RELEASE - Apr 13 - ~4.7M Muslims live in Germany. The matchmaking app Hawaya, which was specially developed for modern Muslims who want to find a long-term relationship, has recently surveyed its users. The survey shows that only a few Muslims of the younger generation favor a conservative attitude and that women in particular want more tolerance. The family's approval of the chosen partner remains important to most, but the majority of respondents (80%) would like to choose their future partner themselves.
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The Complete Guide to the Online Dating Industry
QUARTZ - Feb 14 - Dating online has revolutionized how we fall in love. The industry has 270m monthly users globally and grew by 13% in 2020, but online dating (swiping) has become exhausting. Experts say the apps that define the next era of online dating will offer more fun, safety, and community.
Amarnath Thombre, head of Match North America said Match's strategy is to "have each app run its own experiment," and, as the experiments play out, the company can use the successful features in its other properties. Match is also expanding into Asia with the lucrative Pairs in Japan, and Hawaya a Muslim-focused service.
Bumble had 42m MAU in Q3 2020. Facebook Dating seems to have fizzled, although some industry experts say it still has big potential [(Mark Brooks)]
"Pretty much everything that we charge for on Hinge, we couldn't really give away for free because then it wouldn't work anymore," said Hinge's CEO/founder Justin McLeod. "Think about Roses, for example. Roses are really, really special. If we gave everyone unlimited Roses, then it would completely defeat the purpose of Roses." Hinge downloads grew 63% globally between 2019 and 2020.
Mark Brooks, a leading industry consultant, says that for dating apps to be able to keep monetizing, moving into a more community-oriented gear is the way to go. "We want people to stick around, have fun. Yes, hook up, meet up, and maybe stick around even beyond that point," he said. "I think we'll see a general shift away from dating into more community-esque apps."
Since the beginning of the pandemic, The Meet Group saw livestreamed minutes increase by 40%. The Meet Group provides livestreaming for Match Group's Plenty of Fish, and the feature is proving to be popular. In Feb Match acquired Hyperconnect, a Korean "social discovery" company that owns a livestreaming app, and a video and audio chatting app that translates conversations in real time, for $1.7B.
Cook points out that the growth of the dating industry has generally been slowing. "And so what do dating companies do when you're saturating the market? ...they find other ways to engage the user. ...they can provide some entertainment value."
Every female dater interviewed for this article mentioned how they often feel unsafe on the apps, or how they are put off by unwanted sexual attention. In 2019, Bumble launched a feature that detects and blurs inappropriate photos. Tinder directs users who report violations to support organizations. Content moderation is slowly getting better.
Dating could jump to new media. For a true dating revolution to happen, the industry needs another media shift, like the one from desktop to mobile, said Brooks. He predicts that the jump will be to Augmented Reality, and that through wearable technology like AR lenses, people will get more "intel-on-the-go" about potential matches. "When passing by someone who has double matched, or is viable and an exceptional date candidate, they will be indicated to them." (Hakuna Live, one of the apps Match acquired in its Hyperconnect deal, features augmented reality avatars).
What's more, Brooks thinks we need more "coaxing along" when we're dating. AR, as well as "informed, tailored advice" from the dating service will deliver helpful nudges in real time, such as: "it's been 20 days since your last date night, might be time for a date at ,'" he said. "I think the benefits of timely advice will outweigh the creepiness of having a computer act as an informed advisor."
by Hanna Kozlowska
See full article at Quartz
Mark Brooks: Please see Courtland Brooks for more information on our niche agency/consultancy. We help Internet dating and online social communities to grow, and get their strategy, business development and marketing (more) right. ;-)
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New Brands Hinge and BLK to Steal Swipes From Rival Bumble
TIMES SQUARE INVESTMENT JOURNAL - Dec 17 - Acquired by Match Group in 2018, Hinge reported ~88% increase in revenue YOY in the Q3, along with niche apps like BLK and Chispa that match people based on their cultural backgrounds. In comparison, Tinder grew its revenue by 15%. Hinge brands itself as the anti-Tinder by appealing to daters suffering from swiping fatigue. Hinge's user base has grown from ~35K subscriptions before Match acquired it to 400K subscribers this year. It is estimated it will have ~8M subscribers in 2030 and $2.8B in revenue compared to $60M in 2020. Amid Hinge's boom, Tinder's slowdown indicates it has grown as big as it can. Match needs a different strategy to remain competitive. "The only way now that it can grow is by taking a more niche-oriented route," said Mark Brooks, who consults with online-dating companies on marketing strategies through his agency, Courtland Brooks. Bumble's growing popularity is a threat. With ~100M users globally, Bumble is going public next year, seeking a valuation of $6B. "Bumble is brilliant because what they've done is soaked up the most in-demand women," said Brooks. "The in-demand woman on a Match platform is going to get inundated." Match planned to acquire Bumble for $450M in 2017, but Bumble rejected the offer. Match acquired Hinge instead. It also launched niche dating apps including BLK and Chispa for the Black and Latino communities. "Match has always had a hard time with niches," said Brooks. "They like large scalable dating platforms." Besides BLK and Chispa, Match recently launched other community-based apps in the U.S., including Upward for Christians and acquired marriage-minded service Hawaya for Muslims.
by Harini Chakrapani
See full article at Times Square Investment Journal
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Could Hinge Be Match Group's Next Tinder?
THE MOTLEY FOOL - Nov 10 - Tinder dominates Match's revenue. It has grown from around zero revenue in 2014 to ~$1.4B this year. Match.com and other legacy websites like PlentyofFish make up around a third of sales. The smallest part of Match's current portfolio is the "emerging opportunities." It includes brands like Ablo, Pairs, and Hawaya, but is led by Hinge. Hinge is "designed to be deleted," meaning it targets people in the slightly older millennial cohort looking for long-term relationships. Match doesn't disclose Hinge's nominal revenue numbers. However, the app downloads year-to-date were up 82%. In fact, the company disclosed in its Q2 report that Hinge users have grown more than tenfold since 2017. With ~10M downloads globally, Hinge may be on the verge of what Tinder achieved a few years ago: hitting escape velocity in its target market.
by Brett Schafer
See full article at The Motley Fool
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Hawaya Dating App for Muslims Arrive in Malaysia
POKDE.NET - Nov 2 - Hawaya (owned by Match Group) is a Cairo-based dating app, founded in April 2017 by four Egyptian entrepreneurs. Hawaya is inspired by the word "Hawa" which translates to "love" in Arabic. According to the company, Hawaya carefully curates a culturally-acceptable solution to matchmaking. Users have to answer a series of questionnaires and authenticate their profile through a selfie verification process.
by Raja Idris
See full article at Pokde.net
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Match Group's Hawaya Launches in Canada
NEWSWIRE.CA - July 13 - Hawaya, a dating app designed for Muslim men and women with serious intentions, is currently available in 11 countries, with plans to expand to the U.S. and U.K. this summer. The app is making its North American debut in Canada. Hawaya was founded in 2017 by Sameh Saleh, who crafted the app to help his sister go through a pleasant, comfortable and safe journey towards marriage.
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Muslim Matchmaking Platform Hawaya Expands Across GCC
ZAWYA - May 18 - Following its success in Egypt, Hawaya (previously Harmonica, acquired by Match Group in 2019), a Cairo-based mobile dating app that approaches matchmaking with respect for Muslim traditions and cultures, has announced the expansion across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Hawaya was founded in 2017 by an Egyptian entrepreneur, Sameh Saleh, who crafted the app to help his sister go through a safe journey towards marriage. The name Hawaya was inspired by the word "Hawa" which means "love" in Arabic.
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Egypt Matchmaking App Harmonica Is a Catch for Match Group
THE ARAB WEEKLY - Oct 6 - Match Group has announced the acquisition of the Egyptian emerging matchmaking application Harmonica. Harmonica relies on an AI engine to determine compatibility among users to help them find relationships. Before being launched in November 2017, Harmonica joined a 4-month programme of a regional early-stage investor and accelerator, Flat6Labs, during which it received financial, legal and technical support, as well as access to the Flat6Labs' network of partners and investors. By the end of the programme, the application had attracted ~5K users, a figure that would increase 700% in the following weeks. Following its stage at Flat6Labs, Harmonica entered the early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator 500 Startups, where it raised $150K. The start-up was selected by the Egyptian Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) to join its incubator Start IT, which grants a similar package to that of Flat6Labs but for a more advanced stage.
by Marc Espanol
See full article at The Arab Weekly
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Match Group & Harmonica: More Details on the Acquisition
MENABYTES - Aug 7 - Match Group has acquired Egyptian online dating startup Harmonica. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed yet. Founded in early 2017 by Sameh Saleh, Tamer Saleh, Shaymaa Aly & Aly Khaled, Harmonica is designed to help Muslims find a life partner. Harmonica's small team of 12 full-time employees (including the founders) is joining Match Group and will work on an English app as well. Harmonica currently has an Arabic-only app. Harmonica will remain headquartered in Cairo, with Sameh Saleh continuing as CEO. It will be Match Group's first office in the Middle East.
by Mohammed Salah
See full article at MenaBytes
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Match Group Reports Q2 2019 Results, Invests in Egyptian Dating App Harmonica
MATCH GROUP - Aug 6 - Match Group Q2 total Revenue grew 18% YOY to $498M. Average subscribers increased 18% to 9.1M, up from 7.7M from Q2 2018. Tinder average subscribers were 5.2M in Q2 2019, increasing 503K sequentially and 1.5M YOY. Operating income was $173M, up 15% YOY. Match Group has also invested in and brought on the team behind Harmonica, a dating app based in Egypt. Match Group will further develop this app and invest in product and marketing to expand into Asia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) that are predominantly Muslim.
See full article at Match Group website
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