Month: March 2011

Snap Interactive Shares: Buy And Hold Me

Posted on March 28, 2011

Snapinteractive logo SEEKING ALPHA – Mar 28 – Snap is directly leveraging Facebook’s customer base for their dating app, AreYouInterested.com, and those dating app revenues have been growing at a rapid pace. Right now, AreYouInterested.com has 30M users, and is adding 50K new users a day. Soon, Facebook friends will be able to share their exact whereabouts via a mobile app called WhoIsNear.com. Snap recently raised $8.5M in a private placement to develop and beta-test Whoisnear.com. Unlike many secondary offerings that can suppress the price of a stock for months or longer, Snap’s shares have held firm above the $2 level. One of Snap’s main LBS competitors, Foursquare Labs, started in 2009. They currently have 6M users, and raised $20M last year, who valued the company at $120M.

by Jon Slotnick
See full article at Seeking Alpha

Mark Brooks: Match (via IAC), Spark Networks, and Cupid are the other public iDating companies. Their numbers are listed in summary pdf's on the right bar of OnlinePersonalsWatch, fyi.

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Discount Dating

Posted on March 28, 2011

NY POST – Mar 28 – Is using a coupon on a first date smart or tacky? Dan Nainan, a 29-year-old former computer engineer for Intel who now works as a comedian, has used discounts for dates with four different women in the last three months. “When people get into serious relationships, or get married, they use coupons,” he says of his rational approach. “So why not use them from day one?” So far, he says all the women he’s wined and dined (at 50% off) have been impressed with his savvy. “You’re not cheap when you bring a coupon on a date, you’re just beating the system,” asserts Casey, author of “The Man Plan” and a relationship expert for Match.com.

by Carrie Seim
See full article at NY Post

Mark Brooks: The Entertainment book is nice, but handing an Entertainment book coupon to the waitress at the beginning of a dinner sends the message 'I am cheap, and you're not worth it.'  Or, 'I'm going on so many dates I need to get a break.' Or 'I'm on the breadline and can only afford to pay for one.'  Singles are better off using iDine.  The 20% discount on the whole dinner bill appears on the credit card, automatically.  No coupons to hand out, and no loss of face when the waitress comes back and says, 'I'm sorry, we're under new management and no longer accepting these coupons.'

See all posts on Match.com

Man Creates Dating Site For One

Posted on March 28, 2011

Hookchasup screenshot TG DAILY – Mar 27 – Chas McFeely will award $10K to the person who hooks him up with a bride. The 40 year-old-single bachelor admits the idea does sound a bit sketchy. To skeptics he responds, "Fair enough. Basically, I work a lot and never had much luck with online dating. I figured, why not create a site where I'm the only guy." The site was created in the first week of March and McFeely has already received an inbox-full of message from "sisters, mothers, BFFs, coworkers, cousins and neighbors."

by Lydia Leavitt
See full article at TG Daily

Mark Brooks: I've seen a few of these types of 'dating sites for one.'  This is the nicest. 

Winkd.me – New Online/Offline Dating Site

Posted on March 28, 2011

Winkd logo NEWSWIRE TODAY – Mar 27 – Winkd.me is like computer dating in reverse. Wink'd users are given personalized, witty cards. Each card has a unique profile code. wink ;D with directions to 'Find me at winkd.me'. Entering the code brings up the online profile of the admirer for them to learn more and if they so choose, send an anonymous message. The Wink’d cards are available in multiple languages and are customizable. The fee is £24.99 to join, which includes a package of 50 Wink’d cards and a month’s free service. The subscription fee is £9.99 thereafter.

See full article at Newswire Today

123Hitch.com Targets Singles Seeking Marriage

Posted on March 25, 2011

123hitch logo PRESS RELEASE – Mar 25 – New online dating site 123Hitch is hitting home with singles in search of more than just a date. "123Hitch allows members to feel confident that they are surrounded by like-minded singles who are serious about finding a spouse", says 123Hitch founder Michelle Iglesias.

See full article at Newswire Today

Grindr Gaining 8,000 New Users Daily

Posted on March 24, 2011

Grindr logo GPS BUSINESS – Mar 24 – Grindr, the all-male mobile date-finding app, now has ~1.5M users in 180 countries, with 280K of them logging on daily and spending an average of 1.5 hours using the service. Grindr launched on Android earlier this month and is now getting 8K new members every day – prior to the launch it was 3K. For 2010 ~60% of Grindr's revenue came from advertising and ~40% from subscriptions.

See full article at GPS Business

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Online Dating Takes Off In China

Posted on March 24, 2011

Jiauan logo CHANNEL NEWS ASIA – Mar 24 – With ~50% of China's Internet users between 24 and 40 years old, online dating services are taking off in a market estimated to be worth US$800M. Online dating site 'Shiji Jiayuan' was established by Ms Gong Haiyan, who set it up after she experienced trouble finding a marriage partner on other online sites. The website took off, now boasting a database of 30M singles. According to a recent study, ~24M Chinese men could find themselves without a partner by 2020 – due to a skewed gender balance caused by China's One-Child Policy and a cultural preference for boys over girls.

by Wong Yee Fong
The full article was originally published at Channel News Asia, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Jiayuan.com

Cupid Hits 7 Million User Mark On Facebook

Posted on March 23, 2011

Cupidplc logo PR WEB – Mar 23 – Max Polyakov from Cupid plc said; “What is of key importance to any online dating company is that they need to innovate. They also need to give their members new ways to meet people. Our presence on facebook ticks all of these boxes, so it’s a win win for us and our members”. In the first week of March, Cupid was positioned at no. 3 in facebook’s ‘Top Gainers’ chart, with ~600K new users in one week. Cupid plc also has the BeNaughty dating app, which has 1,494,470 monthly active users as well as others including GirlsDateforFree with over 650K monthly users and Flirt with 1,278,000 monthly users. Cupid’s portfolio of Facebook apps boasts over 7M monthly active users.

See full article at PR Web

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Dating Agencies Make Debut In UK Inflation Basket

Posted on March 22, 2011

Office for natinal statistics logo FINANCIAL TIMES – Mar 18 – The basket of goods and services chosen by Britain’s Office for National Statistics to calculate inflation provides a geek’s-eye view of the way we live. Each year the list is updated to reflect spending habits, providing a glimpse of the nation’s changing soul, as expressed through its wallet. This week, online dating was included for the first time. Dating agencies were once the place losers went to date other losers. But now internet dating is YouTube to conventional dating’s three-channel TV.

by Tim Harford
See full article at Financial Times