OPW – Sep 30 – StepOut.com, a group dating site that's got very very popular in India over the last two years, joined forces with Twoo, a social discovery site that was acquired by Meetic in December 2012. We will update the story once we hear more.
Month: September 2013
On Love: ‘We Have A Deep Appreciation For Each Other’
WASHINGTON POST – Sep 20 – Courtney and George met on eHarmony.com and were eager to go on a first date, but both had hectic schedules in May 2011. George was preparing for a year-long deployment as a Marine; Courtney was lobbying for KIPP DC’s charter school students on the Hill. In November 2011, George deployed, and they started to Skype every few days. In May 2012, George was allowed a two-week vacation. He planned a cruise for the couple, around the boot of Italy where George proposed on one knee on a gondola. The two bought a house together in Alexandria in December.
by Rachel Lubitz
See full article at Washington Post
Mark Brooks: It's encouraging that these kinds of success stories can be pitched and
placed with upper echelon media such as the Washington Post. eHarmony
is all about success stories and testimonials. It works.
Who Made Speed Dating?
NY TIMES – Sep 27 – The first speed dating-like event was organized in 1998 by Rabbi Yaacov Deyo in Beverly Hills. Within a year or so, the speed-dating idea had gone viral, with imitators around the country. Deyo and his friends trademarked SpeedDating, they began the process of filing a patent. But as the trend exploded, Deyo realized he had lost control of the idea. "Online dating has better return on investment," says online dating coach Evan Marc Katz. "You might not meet as many people in a month, but you will get to choose those people."
by Pagan Kennedy
See full article at NY Times
Modamily.com: Matchmaker For Co-parents
FT – Sep 27 – Ivan Fatovic came up with a matchmaking website for people desiring a parenting. “There were a few sites that provided anonymous sperm donors for lesbian couples but no service for people who wanted to meet a like-minded person with whom they could have a child.” After raising $150K from friends and family, he and three co-founders launched Modamily.com. Since then several similar sites have sprung up, including PollenTree.com, Coparents.com, Co-ParentMatch.com and MyAlternativeFamily.com. Modamily costs $29.95 a month. The site also offers a “personal concierge service” that makes personal introductions, costing $149.95 for three months.
Sam Yagan: The Nerd King Of Online Dating
FORTUNE – Sep 25 – Sam Yagan launched OkCupid in 2004 with friends. Before OkCupid, they started SparkNotes, an online alternative to CliffsNotes study guides, in 1999. It sold to iTurf, for $30M. After that he joined his friend Jed McCaleb to launch eDonkey, a P2P file-sharing service that they scaled fast but shut down after pressure from record labels. Only a year and a half after buying OkCupid for ~$90M, IAC made Yagan CEO of its entire Match division. That entire segment contributed $713M of IAC's 2012 revenue of $2.8 billion. Yagan gets emails on a weekly basis from people launching a dating site. He actually roots for new online dating competitors to launch, because he is the only buyer. Match buys so much that the list of significant e-dating competitors is short: eHarmony, Spark Networks, PlentyOfFish, HowAboutWe and Zoosk (rumored to be going public this year).
by Daniel Roberts
The full article was originally published at CNN Fortune, but is no longer available.
HowAboutWe Raises $4.2M
VENTURE BEAT – Sep 26 – HowAboutWe’s parent company, ThisLife, has closed $4.2M of a $5M round. This brings the company’s total capital raised to $23.3M. The company is now adding 100K users a month.
by Rebecca Grant
See full article at Venture Beat
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Startup Club: Bang With Friends
SHALOM LIFE – Sep 26 - Colin Hodge is the CEO of Bang with Friends, an online dating app that came back on the market as "Down" after it got banned from iTunes.
Q: Does it work the same way?
A: Yes.
Q: Where did you get the initial idea for Bang with Friends?
A: We started this project in a night of brutally honest conversations and programming. We focused on the key missing pieces in online dating for our generation: honesty and bite-sized consumption.
Q: What has the response been like since you've come back on the market as 'Down'?
A: Pretty positive. Now, you can have our app on your phone without any stigma.
Q: What are you trying to establish with Down?
A: To uncover the hidden potential of some of our friendships since it's safer than meeting a total stranger.
Q: Do you consider Down a dating site?
A: We're not a dating site, but we are dating as it should be.
by Daniel Koren
The full article was originally published at Shalom Life, but is no longer available.
India Introduces Matrimonial TV Channel
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA – Sep 25 – Spouses for sons and daughters are now being sought on a TV channel in India. Shagun TV is India's first 24-hour matrimonial TV station. The shows feature potential brides and grooms along with their families and advise them on matters ranging from relationships to wedding planning and shopping.
by Zain Awan
The full article was originally published at Channel News Asia, but is no longer available.
Match.com Increases Its Stake In Meetic From 80.8% To 87.5%
PR NEWSWIRE – Sep 25 – Match.com has acquired all remaining shares held by Marc Simoncini, Meetic's founder, which represent 6.7% of the capital. The average price was €29.5M (€18.75). Match now owns 87.5% of the capital and 88.6% of the voting rights of Meetic. Mr. Simoncini has resigned from Meetic's board of directors. Match intends to launch a voluntary simplified public tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Meetic at a price of €18.75 per share.
See full article at PR Newswire
See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on Meetic
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.