USA TODAY – May 7 – Co-founder of DateMySchool.com, Alexa built the dating website in 2010 with Jean Meyer for peers at Columbia University where they attended business school. Since then, the college- and alum-exclusive service has expanded to ~ 230K students in 2,800 colleges. The duo launched iPhone, iPad and Android applications last month.
"Once they've seen these people are just college kids they're much more open and receptive," Gobiel said. "You then know there won't be these creepy people you might find on other websites."
Month: May 2013
eDarling Buys Itself Back From eHarmony
VENTURE VILLAGE – May 8 – A two-year affair between eDarling and eHarmony is over. eHarmony purchased a 30% stake in eDarling with an option to buy the rest if all went well. Now that offer is off the table and eDarling has bought back its shares from eHarmony. Rumours put the cost of the buyback at $30M with talk it will be followed by an eDarling launch in the UK. The company behind eDarling, Affinitas, reported a €9.2M loss for 2011, an improvement on the €13.6M loss it reported for 2010. In May last year, it said it expected slightly positive EBITDA on a boosted €50M turnover for 2012. It’s unclear who led the break-up – but it seems both firms were more than ready for a refresh in strategy.
The full article was originally published at Venture Village, but is no longer available.
See all posts on eDarling
See all posts on eHarmony
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Dating Startup Hinge Expanding To New York
WASHINGTON POST – May 6 – Hinge, a free dating app that connects users to the friends of their Facebook friends, plans to launch in New York this summer. The app has attracted ~10K users since its launch in the Washington area in February. Every day at noon, Hinge users receive a batch of their Facebook friends’ single friends, and can indicate if they’re interested. If two users mutually indicate interest, Hinge sends an e-mail introduction. In the future, the team plans to incorporate third-degree connections — friends of friends of friends.
Book: Modern Dating: A Field Guide
OPW – May 6 – Another book about online dating has been published this month. It is called "Modern Dating: A Field Guide", and is written by Chiara Atik, Dating Expert at HowAboutWe.com. Order on Amazon. Chiara Atik has been writing about dating for HowAboutWe's "Date Report" blog since its launch in 2010. This book is smart and funny, and really gets at how women are dating today.
FriendFinder Needs A Loving Embrace
THE DEAL – May 7 – FriendFinder has ~$455M in debt outstanding. The company obtained forbearance agreements with the majority of its lenders. Those agreements were extended from their original February deadline through May 6, and so far, FriendFinder is mum on its next step. Mark Brooks, who runs Courtland Brooks, has a solution in mind. "FriendFinder is a good company with bad debt," Brooks said. "At some stage, patience will run out, and the lenders will have to take that company over and run it themselves. I'd love to see Conru more involved. I'd love to see him back at the helm," Brooks said. "He runs a tight ship." Brooks praised Conru's combination of innovation and focus. AdultFriendFinder.com faces stiff competition from Global Personals's Fling.com, and SexSearch.com. "It's really a two-horse race at this point," Brooks said about AdultFriendFinder and Fling. "But SexSearch is going in for the kill." Looking at the usage charts for these websites, Brooks remarked, "It looks like Fling.com is eating FriendFinder's lunch," crediting a new CEO who has done great things for Fling's business. Fling's unique views spiked to 8.2 M in April from 3.3M in January. AdultFriendFinder's views cratered to ~6M in April from 9.2M in January. SexSearch.com's numbers, meanwhile, have jumped to 2.3M in April from 146,841 daily unique views in January. Brooks believes online dating sites should be expanding their mobile offerings, since more users are now accessing dating sites from their mobile phones.
by Lisa Allen
See full article at The Deal (the article is under subscription now)
See all posts on FriendFinder See all posts on Fling
See all posts on AdultFriendFinder See all posts on SexSearch
Overview Of Mobile Dating Industry At iDate LA
WEBWIRE – May 7 – During the Mobile Dating Conference on June 5-7, 2013 in LA, Mark Brooks will provide a presentation about the state of the mobile dating market. The session will discuss the most popular mobile dating apps and sites, the market size, and a review of business models for mobile dating.
Canadian Inmates Connect: Dating Site For Canadian Inmates
THE CANADIAN PRESS – May 5 – Canadian Inmates Connect showcases numerous prisoners serving life sentences and helps the incarcerated find pen pals and, perhaps, much more. The website's founder, Melissa, was inspired to start the website after seeing similar ones in the United States. Since inmates don't have Internet access in the clink, initial contact must be made via snail-mail to their respective penitentiary. Members pay $35 annual fee.
Gaydar Fights Back With Mobile Web Service
GAYSTARNEWS – May 3 – Gaydar responds to strong competition in gay men’s smartphone dating market with release of new service and promises changes to Gaydar Girls soon. The new mobile site brings ‘find a guy near you’ features without app restrictions – so users have greater freedom on the kinds of pictures they upload, and it works on all devices. The new mobile web service uses the same database as the desktop version.
Trademark Violations Court Fight
COURTHOUSE NEWS – May 3 - Anastasia accuses Elena's Models of trademark violations, false advertising, tortious interference and unfair competition, in Manhattan Federal Court. "Upon information and belief, Elena's Models operates or sponsors websites entitled 'anastasiadatefraud.com' and 'ruadventures.com.' Both of these websites disguise the identity of their owners by using a proxy service. However, they direct customers to the elenasmodels.com website. These websites accuse Anastasiadate of systematically perpetuating scams and fraudulent deceptions upon its customers, and then recommend that the customers use Elena's Models."
by Rebekah Kearn
The full article was originally published at Courthouse News, but is no longer available.
See all posts at AnastasiaDate
See all posts on Elena's Models
10 Weirdest Questions Asked By OkCupid
LAPTOP – May 3 –
- In a certain light, wouldn’t nuclear war be exciting?
- Do you think women have an obligation to keep their legs shaved?
- Which is worse: starving children or abused animals?
- How frequently do you bathe or shower?
- Do spelling mistakes annoy you?
- Would you ever eat something out of the trash?
- STALE is to STEAL as 89475 is to…
- Underarms can be a hairy subject. How do you maintain your pits?
- Would the world be a better place if people with low IQs were not allowed to reproduce?
- What do you think when you hear the word “cell”?