BETAKIT - May 15 - Former Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) founding partners Sundeep Madra and Amar Varma, as well as Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya, have been ordered to pay $15.6M to plaintiffs in an Ontario Superior Court ruling that found the three had conspired to acquire mobile software development shop Xtreme Labs at a discounted price, in addition to breached contractual obligations with EVP. The lawsuit began in 2014 when Sharma, Bashir, and Teslia filed a claim of ~$200M in damages against Madra and Varma, alleging that the pair had conspired with Palihapitiya, also a former Facebook VP, to hide an interest in dating app Tinder as part of a sale of shares in dev studio Xtreme Labs. The plaintiffs alleged that the two partners "misrepresented the financial status of Xtreme Labs," including the equity interest they maintained in Hatch Labs and the existence of Tinder. They argued that this misrepresentation led the trio to sell their shares in Xtreme at a discounted price.
727 posts categorized "Tinder"
Ontario Judge Rules Against Xtreme Labs co-founders in Tinder-focused Lawsuit
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80% of LGBT People Say Dating Apps Benefit Their Community
PINKNEWS - May 13 - A new survey from Tinder has found that 80% of LGBT+ people believe dating apps have benefited their community in a positive way. 46% of them said it had provided more diversity in people they could date. 36% said it had provided them with the opportunity to date more people of other races and cultures.
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Tinder Is Preparing to Launch 'Tinder Lite'
TECH CRUNCH - May 11 - Tinder is preparing to launch Tinder Lite in emerging markets. The light version will offer a smaller, more lightweight version of the current flagship app. Most major tech companies now offer "Lite" apps for the large and rapidly growing online user base coming from these emerging markets - and specifically India, as of late. For example, Google has a full suite of lightweight "Go"-branded apps, like Google Go, Gmail Go, Files Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go and Google Assistant Go. There's also Facebook Lite, Instagram Lite, Messenger Lite, Twitter Lite, Uber Lite, Spotify Lite and even TikTok Lite. The company didn't share an exact launch date for Tinder Lite, but, according to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg, the app is "coming soon."
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China's Tinder - Tantan - Is Rising in India
QUARTZ - May 9 - Tantan, China's favourite dating app, is now the fifth-most popular in India by combined monthly active users on iOS and Android phones, according to App Annie. In May 2018, Tantan did not feature among the top 10, but zoomed to the 4th position by July. It has since slid one spot following the launch of Bumble in December.
Top dating apps in India
(as on May 2018) (as on March 2019)
1. Tinder 1. Tinder
2. Happn 2. Happn
3. Azar 3. Azar
4. Badoo 4. Bumble
5. OkCupid 5. Tantan
Tantan translates in Mandarin to "talk." Launched in 2014, the app bears a high resemblance to Tinder, and was acquired by the Chinese social network Momo in February 2018. Tantan has ~90M registered users in China. The dating app has been advertising aggressively on TikTok.
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Match Group Paid Millions in Stock Awards That Could Help Tinder co-Founder's $2 Billion Lawsuit
THE VERGE - May 8 - Match Group had to pay Tinder employees $9.4M in stock compensation this quarter because of the app's rapid growth. That might be consequential in the $2B lawsuit the company faces from Tinder co-founder Sean Rad. Rad claims Match purposely undervalued Tinder in an effort to avoid paying out billions of dollars in stock to the team's original employees. An independent valuation earlier this year valued Tinder at $10B, which would trigger performance-based payouts. This new valuation, which comes only two years after Match valued Tinder at $3B, could lend Rad's case some merit.
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Tinder Partners With NGO for Animal Rescue Help
FEMINA.IN - May 8 - In India, only 1 in 12 abandoned pets are rehomed, and the estimate on pets abandoned run into thousands. Friendicoes SECA, a Delhi-based NGO, estimates that up to 600 pets are abandoned every year in the city, of which only about 100 to 150 find new homes. So dating app Tinder is partnering with animal rescue and shelter foundations to help users find their #PawfectMatch. Users will be able to swipe on pet profiles, and swiping right will redirect them to fill out a form to indicate their preference from adopting, fostering, donating or volunteering, after which the process will be taken further.
by Shraddha Kamdar
See full article at Femina
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Match Group Stock Bounced Back, Facebook Hasn't Killed Tinder
BARRON'S - May 8 - It has been a year since Facebook announced it was getting into online dating and Match Group stock fell to $35. But it closed at $60 yesterday, and it was recently up 6% in after-hours trading after the company announced Q1 results. Tinder performed well, with subscribers and ARPU described as the main reasons for Match's revenue growth. Facebook, meanwhile, continues to move ahead with dating services. It is expected in the US later this year.
by David Marino-Nachison
See full article at Barron's
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The Match Group Released Q1 Results
PRESS RELEASE - May 8 - Q1 revenue grew 14% YOY to $465M. Average subscribers increased 16% to 8.6M, up from 7.4M in the prior year quarter. Tinder average subscribers were 4.7M in Q1 2019, increasing 384K sequentially and 1.3M YOY. The stock is up 9.5%.
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Tinder Launches 'Festival Mode' to Connect Music Festival Goers
TECH CRUNCH - May 2 - Tinder's new feature "Festival Mode" is designed to connect singles attending the same music festival. "Festival Mode" will allow users to add event-specific badges to their profile approximately three weeks before each festival.
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Match Group to Increase Headcount in Asia
FINANCIAL TIMES - Apr 15 - Match Group is planning to expand headcount in Asia by 40% this year and overhaul its executive team, as part of a push into the region's online dating market. The group is planing to invest tens of millions of dollars a year on a hiring spree as well as additional marketing in the region. Several directors for individual brands in Asia will now become general managers across all the Match apps. In the past two years, the company has opened offices in South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, and continued to expand its presence in India. The plan is to open an office in Singapore in the coming months. But it does not operate in China, where Tinder is banned. The company is hunting for opportunities for either "incubating or buying" a Chinese dating app.
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Tinder Becomes the Top-grossing, Non-game App in Q1 2019
TECH CRUNCH - Apr 12 - For the first time in years, Netflix is no longer the top grossing, non-game mobile app. That title now goes to Tinder. The change in position is not surprising, given Netflix's decision in December to stop paying the so-called "Apple tax." Netflix no longer allows new users to sign up and subscribe to its service through its app. Now, instead of giving up its 15 - 30% cut of subscription revenue, new users have to sign up through Netflix's website. Tinder saw revenue grow by 42% YOY to reach $260.7M, up from $183M in Q1 2018.
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App Download Up 10% YOY
MOBILE WORLD LIVE - Apr 11 - ~30B apps were downloaded from Google Play and Apple's App Store in Q1, up 10% YOY and the largest quarter ever, according to App Annie. App Annie noted Brazil was also a contributor to iOS download growth, although mature markets including the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany were the biggest drivers. But downloads in China softened, which was attributed to game licensing freezes. Dating app Tinder took top spot for consumer spend on non-gaming apps for the first time, which was attributed to both its own strong year-on-year numbers and Netflix no longer taking on new subscriptions on the app stores.
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50% of Dutch Online Daters Downloaded Tinder
DUTCH TECH MAGAZINE - Apr 7 - In the Netherlands, Tinder is downloaded on average 46,854 times a month. Last year there were more than half a million Tinder downloads (566,946). The number of singles in the Netherlands is growing steadily with an average increase of 1.7% over the past five years. Last year there were ~3M singles in the Netherlands. 50% of the Dutch daters have downloaded Tinder. Badoo comes second with a 25% share. Lexa.nl (18%), Happn (15%) and Relatieplanet (11%) fill the top five most popular dating apps.
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Snapchat Stories Are Coming to Tinder
ENGADGET - Apr 5 - Later this year, Tinder users can start posting Snapchat Stories directly to their dating profile, Snap announced today at its Partner Summit in Los Angeles.
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Tinder and BuzzFeed Partners For a Show - Highs and Lows of Being a Woman in India
INDIAN TELEVISION - Apr 4 - Tinder and BuzzFeed India present GirlsFeed, a six episode variety show featuring a diverse group of women discussing the struggles, joys, highs and lows of being a woman in India.
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Tinder Hires a New Chief Product Officer to Keep College Kids on the App
THE VERGE - Apr 1 - Ravi Mehta comes to Tinder from Facebook where he was the product director for youth engagement and helped develop Lasso, Facebook's TikTok competitor. Tinder says Mehta has "spearheaded efforts to understand how Gen Z (users between ages 18 and 22) spends their time online and identified key product opportunities for this demographic." Last year, Tinder released Tinder U, its college student-only service that requires users to have an active .edu email address and be on campus. This year, it also developed its Spring Break Mode that lets Tinder U users select their spring break vacation spot and then swipe on potential matches ahead of arriving.
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Tinder to Get 'Height Verification' Feature
WCCFTECH - Apr 1 - Tinder said in a blog post today that they'd device methods to verify users' heights in a future update. The feature works by asking users to input their 'correct' height and send a screenshot while standing next to 'any commercial building'. Tinder says that they'll do some 'state-of-the-art verifying', following which the user will receive a 'badge' for the profile.
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Spotify Used Tinder in Their Ads in India
AFAQS - Mar 26 - Spotify launched in India on February 27 with 40M tracks to choose from and the advertising that followed in Mumbai and Delhi drew emphasis on their playlist offering. Spotify has taken special permission from Tinder to use the brand name for its campaign.
by Aishwarya Ramesh
See full article at afaqs!
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Tinder Study: Aussie Ys Embracing Singledom
B&T MAGAZINE - Mar 26 - A new study by Tinder into the dating habits of 20-something Aussies has found they appear to be utterly terrified of long-term relationships.
- 86% of respondents said being single positively affects their lives
- 90% go on one or two dates per week and 77% agreed that single people are more open to new experiences
- 25% said they would not sacrifice their sleep or personal space for a partner
- 51% said they worry or are uneasy about being in a full-time relationship
- 31% said they go on dates to learn more about themselves and what they want in a partner
- Women are more likely to say that being single made them feel independent (57% compared to men at 48%)
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Tinder co-Founder Asks Court to Dismiss $250M Lawsuit From Tinder's Owner
THE VERGE - Mar 26 - Tinder co-founder and former CEO Sean Rad has asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss a $250M lawsuit against him by Match Group and IAC, the owners of Tinder. Match claims that Rad copied internal files and proprietary information before he left the company, violating his employment contract. In his motion to dismiss, however, Rad says the contract gave him the right to back up internal emails and hold on to those correspondences even after his tenure at Tinder ended. Match's claims are meant to counter a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from Rad. In August 2018, Rad and other former Tinder employees sued Match Group and IAC over claims that the company purposefully undervalued Tinder to avoid having to pay the team billions more in equity. Now Match is countersuing, alleging that Rad copied "highly sensitive, non-public information" about Tinder business strategies and plans.'
by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge
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