PR NEWSWIRE - Bumble and Grindr hit significant milestones this week, according to data.ai (formerly App Annie). Bumble has surpassed 100M lifetime downloads and Grindr has surpassed $500M in consumer spend. Bumble has taken just under eight years to reach this milestone and ranks #4 in lifetime downloads in the U.S..Over the last five years, dating app global downloads have increased 173%, from 293M in H1 2017 to 799M in H1 2022.
Bumble Surpasses 100M in Lifetime Downloads and Grindr $500M in Consumer Spend
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Iris Dating App Hits 1 Million Users
BUSINESSWIRE - Iris now has 1M users. The app said it blocked ~200K potential catfisher since its launch one year ago. All users must take a live selfie that's compared to the photos in their profile before they're able to join the platform. If the selfie doesn't match the photos, the app blocks the user.
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Bumble Sued by Fund Over Stock Sale Amid Undisclosed User Drop
BLOOMBERG LAW - A pension fund sued Bumble over concerns that the company and its backers at Blackstone engineered a stock offering in Sep 2021 based on stale growth metrics just weeks before they released data showing a decline in users.
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Dating Apps Thrive in China
NEW YORK TIMES - China has cracked down on many tech companies, but has allowed dating apps that provide social connections to flourish. The number of dating apps in China with over 1K downloads soared to 275 this year from 81 in 2017, according to data.ai. Downloads of the apps have increased, as have in-app purchases. Investors have also poured ~$5.3B into dating and social networking companies in the country last year, up from $300M in 2019, according to PitchBook. Zhang Lu, the founder of Soul, a dating app backed by Tencent, has said that "loneliness is the core problem we want to solve." In July, Soul filed for an IPO in Hong Kong after tripling its monthly active users to 31M between 2019 and 2021.
by Chang Che and Zixu Wang
See full article at New York Times
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SwoonMe - Avatars and Audio Replace Traditional Profiles
INDIAN EXPRESS - SwoonMe, a dating app that started in July 2021, is focusing on avatars and audio. Tanvi Gupta, SwoonMe's co-founder and former Meta employee, said the aim is to build "a platform where users can connect, with 'Avatars' being their primary medium of identity." Once the profile is created, the app will guide a user with prompts on how to record an audio introduction. This audio snippet or description is another critical part of the profile on SwoonMe app. Two users must have sent a certain number of 'audio' messages before the text chat option opens. Launched in India in January this year, the app already has 25K monthly active users.
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MillionaireMatch Launches Mandatory Free Verification Checks
BUSINESSWIRE - MillionaireMatch has launched free mandatory verification of its users using government ID. It could be a Driver's License, passport, or any other form of valid ID. The site also offers Live Video Verification. Users are verified through a series of real-time posed selfies to check whether the person in a live video selfie is the same as the person in the profile. A checkmark will appear on the verified profile.
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Dating.com Opens Meta-Dating Space
THE DRUM - Dating.com is opening a meta-dating space in Decentraland, a blockchain-based virtual world that's become a popular portal into the expanding metaverse. Match Group announced last year that it was planning to launch 'Single Town' for Tinder, describing it as "a live virtual world." Those plans were recently paused in the wake of low earnings during the second quarter of this year. The VR-based dating app Planet Theta is slated to launch in November.
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Dating App Clover Inks $157M SPAC Merger
LAW360 - FoxWayne has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with dating app Clover for $157.45M in share consideration. Clover is a dating app aimed at Gen Z and millennials with live streaming and other social features. FoxWayne brings ~$13.7M in cash into the deal.
by Danielle Ferguson
See full article at Law360
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
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Whatever Happened To Cat Dating App Tabby After Shark Tank?
LOOPER - Leigh D'Angelo, the founder of the dating app for cat lovers Tabby, had previously developed the dating app Dig, which catered to dog lovers. Tabby was launched on International Cat Day on Aug 8, 2020, and saw ~10K downloads. She presented her idea to the investors on Shark Tank. Kevin O'Leary decided to take a chance on the cat lovers and offered $300K for 30%, but Tabby wasn't able to land on its feet. While the app is available on Google Play, it is not available on the App Store anymore. Similarly, the company's website is no longer functioning. In its final Instagram post, Dig wrote, "It has been a roller coaster ride for the past 6 years, and we can not thank each of you enough for believing in our dream. It is with great sadness and a lot of tears that we will be closing our business."
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Bumble Now Lets Users Add 30s Audio Prompt to Dating Profiles
INDIA TODAY - Audio Prompts will let people add a voice recording to reveal more about their personalities. Bumble says users can add prompts of up to 30 seconds long. On the other hand, videos on profiles can be used instead of the main photo and users can even mute the audio. Both Audio prompts and videos are already available on rival Match Group's Hinge app. This is Bumble's first major upgrade since the company introduced Badges last year. The dating also allows users to make in-app calls - saving them from sharing WhatsApp numbers or Instagram handles immediately.
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Tinder Celebrates National Dog Week
TECH CRUNCH - Tinder is partnering with dog rescue shelters across the U.S. to celebrate National Dog Week and give Tinder users the ability to add a shelter dog to their profile photo. National Dog Week is over on September 24, but Tinder's users can use the filter until October 20. Based on a 2021 survey, 60% of respondents are more tempted to swipe right on someone that has a dog in their profile photo. Tinder also stated that "Dog Lover" is among the top 10 most selected "Interests" added to Tinder profiles.
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More Singles Turn to Dating Apps, But Inflation Puts Dent in Plans
ZENGER NEWS - A survey by Dating.com found that online dating sites worldwide are attracting 12M new users annually, with ~70% of global singles using online dating services. Yet as online dating app usage has increased, dating behavior in a post-COVID world means people face higher costs when arranging face-to-face meetings. "Two out of three say that cost is an important factor when deciding what to do on a date," said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge. 41% surveyed Hinge singles reported they were more concerned with dating costs now versus a year ago. Gen Z is more likely to feel cost pressures. In Japan, in a survey of 50K people, Eureka, which owns the dating site Pairs, found that 59% of respondents stopped looking for partners or ceased dating, due to COVID. Online dating site subscribers worldwide spent $4.2B in subscriptions in 2021, up 30% over 2020, according to App Annie. Of the online sites, Tinder is the global market leader, with $1.35B in revenues in 2021.
by Charles Epstein
See full article at Newsweek
See the top news on Dating.com See the top news on Pairs
See the top news on Hinge See the top news on Tinder
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Hinge Adds More Ways to Connect With New Polls and Video-specific Prompts
TECH CRUNCH - Hinge launches two new features, "Video Prompts" and "Prompt Polls," allowing users to answer video-specific prompts as well as publish polls with three unique answers for potential matches to choose from. Users can select from 21 poll prompts such as, "If we on the lottery, let's spend it on," "A dream home must include". Video, meanwhile, isn't new to Hinge. But to add a new video-specific prompt, users can only record within the app. The app has added 16 new prompts designed for video. This includes "Something that's special to me," "Hi from me and my pet," "Rate my fit," and "Quick story time." Users can record a 30-second video to pair with the video prompt. Bumble has begun experimenting with polls, as well.
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Chispa and Voto Latino Reunite to Encourage People to Vote
PR NEWSWIRE - Chispa, the #1 dating app made for U.S. Latinx singles, has reunited with the political organization Voto Latino to educate, empower, and mobilize the next generation of Latinx voters for the 2022 midterm election. The two organizations partnered in 2020, during the Presidential election, to help motivate Latinx voters in what turned out to be a breakout year. ~61% of all Latinos over 18 registered to vote, up 12% points from 2016. Chispa is a Match Affinity dating app created in 2017 by Match Group.
See full article at PR Newswire
BLK, a dating app for black singles, also partners with "When We All Vote", Michelle Obama's initiative with a goal to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap.
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Dating Industry Conferences
OPW - Here are a few events to consider.
First of all, our IDEA event. In real life, we have the Paris IDEA SUMMIT at happn's new HQ in Paris on Monday 28th November, with a day of socializing in Paris the day before on Sun 27th. This is exclusively for CEOs and leaders of significant dating apps to meet. Think of this as a round table for the industry's top leadership. The focus is on Innovation and M&A strategy. Prior IDEA SUMMITs this year were in New York, Dubai and Singapore. The Paris IDEA SUMMIT is free and by direct invite-only with just 22 participants.
Our external partners are also running the following events for your consideration.
For matchmakers and relationship coaches, there's the Global Love Conference in London on Wed 21st Sep, which is run by our friends at the Global Love Institute. See event here. The event is at Churchill War Rooms and costs $395.
For the dating industry at large, check out GDI's London Conference, which is their signature event on Thu 22nd Sep. Speakers hail from The Meet Group, Spark Networks, Irisnet, Inner Circle, Muzz, Besedo, Kindred and Jigsaw. This is at Leonardo's Royal London St.Paul's and tix are 399 GBP right here.
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