MUZMATCH - Match Group is suing Muzmatch in the UK with the trial set for 17th/18th Jan. "We fight, because we must. It is crucial that products built for our community are built by our community, and that we do not allow ourselves to be dictated and controlled by others", says Shahzad Younas, founder and CEO of Muzmatch, the London-based dating app for Muslims which has recently hit 5M members globally. Shahzad Younas founded Muzmatch in 2011. He quit his career as investment banker to focus entirely on his startup and learning how to build a mobile app. Muzmatch app was launched in 2015 with hundreds of new members joining globally. In 2016 Shahzad registered trademarks for MUZMATCH in the US and Europe. Match Group immediately filed an objection, saying it was passing off their match.com heart design TM. Match Group lawyers sent letters claiming they would not allow another dating company to have "match" in their name. Muzmatch revamped the brand - removed the heart logo and changed the font used in the muzmatch logo. Match Group continued to file objections to the EU Trademark. In 2017, Muzmatch was accepted to Y Combinator Summer 17 batch, raising a $1.75M seed round. In 2018 Match Group made their first offer to acquire Muzmatch for $15M. As Muzmatch continued to grow, Match Group attempted to acquire the app multiple times offering $25M in Nov '18 and $35M in Jan '19. In 2019 Match Group acquired muslim app Harmonica and sued Muzmatch in the UK IPEC courts alleging trademark infringement. Match Group also filed a lawsuit against Muzmatch in Texas this year alleging patent infringement (use of swipe gesture) and cyberpiracy (use of Muzmatch brand). Muzmatch decided to settle the case and removed the swipe feature.
35 posts categorized "Muzmatch"
Match Group Files Multiple Lawsuits Against Muzmatch Following Failed Acquisition Offers
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Match Group Has Filed a Lawsuit Against Muzmatch
NOKIA MOBILE PHONE NEWS - After accusing Muzmatch, a UK-based Muslim matchmaking app, of copying their product and services, Match Group has launched a legal battle with it. The Match Group has accused Muzmatch of trademark infringement, claiming that its mission is to "spark meaningful connections for every single person worldwide." According to The Times, Match Group first wrote to Muzmatch in 2016 alleging trademark infringement before attempting to acquire it a year later. It made four offers to buy Muzmatch, including one for $35M, but Muzmatch turned them down. In 2019, Match purchased Harmonica, an Egyptian-based Muslim dating app, and renamed it Hawaya. According to Match Group, Muzmatch used the word 'match' in its metadata, and also used keyword tags such as 'match-muslim' and 'uk-muslim-match,' which the company claims are an attempt to 'ride on the coattails' of its trademarks. Muzmatch has denied the allegations, claiming that Match does not have a monopoly on the term "match" in the dating industry. On January 17, a hearing is scheduled at the UK Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court in London.
by Maria Daisy
See full article at Nokia Mobile Phone News
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Muzmatch Celebrates 5M Members
YOUTUBE - 5M single Muslims all over the world are on Muzmatch searching for love. To celebrate, Muzmatch is giving $5K to one lucky couple that met on Muzmatch, to spend on either their engagement, wedding or honeymoon.
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Muzmatch, World's Largest Muslim Dating App, Woos the Gulf
ARABIAN BUSINESS - London-founded Muzmatch has its eye on regional daters, says founder Shahzad Younas. At last count, the app had 5M users globally. Founded in 2014, the app has specific features that support the Muslim faith, such as 'chaperone' options, private viewing functions and a zero-tolerance policy for harassment or lewd comments. Users can also select matches based on sect, ethnicity and religious practices. Backed with $9M seed and Series A investment from a range of Silicon Valley and global investors, with a 35-strong team, Muzmatch aims to transform how Muslims meet and marry. In the Gulf, the app's average user age is 30 years, for both men and women - while 45% of its users are Arab and 28% South Asian. The majority of its regional users are based in Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE. Across the region, 20% of members are female, compared to the global average of 33%, and nearly half of all Muzmatch calls are initiated by women.
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The Untold Story of Muzmatch
YOUTUBE - Did you know that the original designs for muzmatch were made in Microsoft Word by its CEO in his bedroom? CEO and founder, Shahzad Younas, gives us all the juicy details about how muzmatch came about in this podcast.
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Muzmatch Forced to Remove Swipping
MUZMATCH - Muzmatch, the UK-based Muslim relationship and marriage app, is removing the ability to "swipe" through profiles after Tinder took the Muslim app to court for infringing its patent.
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S'More: "Tinder-fication" of Online Dating Is Over
FORBES - May 26 - New data gathered by the dating app company S'More suggests that putting chemistry ahead of "hotness" and relationships over casual encounters may become the new norm in online dating, and some of the biggest players in the industry are getting in on the trend. S'More survey found that physical attraction was no longer rated as the most important factor when searching for a potential match. "Covid-19 certainly changed the equation," says CEO Cohen-Aslatei. "But beyond that, our data shows that people are starting to expect more from dating apps. They want real connections, not the fake photos and hyper-sexualization that has characterized so much of online dating over the past decade." S'More has developed a suite of features aimed to reduce the superficiality of online dating, and slow down the process. For one, users aren't able to view a clear photo of a potential match until they have had a meaningful conversation with that person. S'More is not alone in its effort. Tinder and Bumble recently added games to their video product, MeetMe added blurred video dating, and Chispa, a Match Group app for Latino and Latina singles, connects daters based on answers to trivia games. MuzMatch, a Muslim-focused dating app, also lets women keep their profiles blurred from men.
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Can Arranged Marriages Be Modern?
SKY NEWS - May 20 - Put 'arranged marriage UK' into Google search, and one of the first things to pop up is the UK government's guidelines concerning forced marriages which explain they are illegal. Dr Aisha K. Gill, a professor of criminology and an expert on forced marriage explained: "An arranged marriage is a marriage which is based on choice and consent, and that's absolutely key in understanding it. An arranged marriage is when someone else such as a family member, a matchmaker, even apps, helps you find a person to marry."
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Muzmatch Is Building a Bakery in East Sudan
MUZMATCH - Apr 16 - This Ramadan, muzmatch is partnering with Ethar Relief to raise $150K to build a bakery in East Sudan to provide fresh bread and jobs to refugees. If you would like to donate, you can do so here https://muzmatch.app.link/Donate.
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Match Group Sues Muzmatch
BLOOMBERG LAW - Feb 16 - Match Group accused U.K.-based Muzmatch of copying Tinder to create a similar digital matchmaking service for Muslims. Match Group called Muzmatch a "Tinder clone" in a patent-infringement suit filed Feb. 12 in federal court in Waco, Texas. Muzmatch copied Tinder's "world changing, draggable-card-based, mutual opt-in app interface" in a dating app dedicated solely to one cultural group, Match claims in the complaint. Both apps offer users digital stacks of cards containing photos of potential romantic matches in close geographic proximity, which the user can accept or discard by swiping.
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MuzMatch and BuzzArab - Top Muslim Dating Apps
THE NATIONAL NEWS - Feb 10 - Muzmatch, the world's largest Muslim dating app, has gained 1M new users in the previous six months alone, 35% of them of Arab ethnicity. It was founded in 2011 by British-Asian Shahzad Younas as a marriage website for Muslims. The app claims 4M users worldwide and 50 employees. Family pressure is often given by Muslims and Arabs as a factor in deciding to tie the knot. Sherif Omar, the founder of the BuzzArab dating app, says: "There are a lot of negative connotations around online dating. In Arabic you don't even use the word date." BuzzArab has ~400K active users. Most of the users are in Morocco, France, Algeria and Egypt. Muzmatch plans to launch across South-East Asia and the Middle East. After successfully completing a $7M Series A funding round in 2019, Mr Younas has big ambitions for his company. While Mr Omar is not looking for investment, he is considering the scope for growth in the US, Canada and Australia, which are homes to large Arab communities.
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Muzmatch Celebrates 4M Members
OPW - Feb 4 - Dating app Muzmatch has just crossed the 4M member mark. Founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley banker, the app caters to Muslims who are looking to find a partner to marry.
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Muzmatch: Diversity & Inclusion
MUZMATCH YOUTUBE CHANNEL - Jan 18 - Muzmatch CEO and Founder Shahzad Younas took part in Google's Fireside webinar, discussing building a diverse and inclusive culture, motivation while working from home, and how Muzmatch helps connect people through lockdown.
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Muzmatch Expands Ethnicity Filters
SALAAM GATEWAY - Sep 29 - In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, several dating and matrimonial platforms pledged to remove their ethnicity filters in a bid to fight discrimination.One of them is Indian matrimony website Shaadi.com. The company ditched its skin tone filter in June 2020. The site previously asked users to declare the colour of their skin using options such as "fair", "wheatish", and "dark". Other companies have defended their continued use of ethnicity filters, such as Match. Muzmatch removed all its colour-focused groups, such as Black/African and White/Caucasian and added choices such as European or West African. According to Muzmatch, ~52% of matches on the app are between members of different ethnicities. UAE-based Muslim matchmaking app Veil say that the app's twelve ethnicity/nationality search list options are based on Veil's user feedback and common search data. The company does not plan on making any changes to those areas.
by Heba Hashem
See full article at Salaam Gateway
See the top news on Match.com See the top news on Muzmatch
See the top news on Shaadi See the top news on Veil
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Dating Apps Gaining Ground in Socially Conservative Pakistan
SEEKING ALPHA - Aug 11 - Dating apps like Tinder look to gain some ground amid changing attitudes around casual dating in socially conservative regions like Pakistan. Dating for women is still frowned upon in the heavily patriarchal society, but attitudes are changing in the cities, where single women are increasingly using the apps to connect with partners. Most Tinder users in the country are 18-40 and come from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Bumble is also gaining ground, as is Muzmatch.
by Jason Aycock
See full article at Seeking Alpha
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on Muzmatch
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