OPW – Apr 10 – London-based dating agency Social Concierge got 20 singletons tipsy and created a remake of the First Kiss viral as a social experiment, to see if a first kiss with a random could lead to a first date. The results? Watch for yourself…
Month: April 2014
Increasing Number Of Over 35s Are Unmarried
ONS.GOV.UK – Apr 10 – JustSingles.com analysed data from their own portfolio against a new analysis of 2011 census data, published last week. The combined research identifies that more over 35s than ever before classify themselves as single. Census data shows that in 2011, 35% of adults in England and Wales had never been married; a rise of a third compared to 2001.
All Men Love Asian Women, All Women Love White Men
BUZZFEED – Apr 9 - Are You Interested and OkCupid analyzed millions of interactions to see the extent to which race played a role in determining response rates.
French Police Investigate Pimping By Sugardaddy.fr
AP – Apr 10 – French prosecutors are examining whether sugardaddy.fr, which seeks to connect older men with younger women, is actually pimping. An advocacy group, Action Team against Pimping, recently filed a legal complaint on the issue.
IAC To Buy Tinder Shares @$5 Billion Valuation
BLOOMBERG – Apr 11 - Tinder is taking off so fast that it’s now worth almost as much as IAC. IAC recently bought another 10% of Tinder from VC Chamath Palihapitiya for $500 million. That values Tinder (10m daily users) at $5 billion, compared with IAC’s $6b. Tinder has yet to contribute revenue.
Update: Tinder is not worth $5B!. "I can confirm that we did a transaction with Chamath, but this valuation is nowhere near the truth,” said Sam Yagan, CEO of IAC’s Match Group. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya wrote on his Twitter: "I sold my stake but value was much less."
by Serena Saitto
See full article at Bloomberg
Mark Brooks: Why is this good for your Internet dating company valuation? The multiple of EBITDA valuation just went infinite!
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
LDS Church Tries To Block Mormon Dating Site
CONSUMER AFFAIR – Apr 10 – Jonathan Eller started a site called Mormon Match. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is trying to block him from trademarking the name. So Mormom Match sues the LDS church. In the suit, Eller seeks a declaration that the church "does not completely own the word "Mormon".
US Internet Ad Revenue Overtaking Broadcast TV
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 10 – Online ad revenue in the US grew to $42.8B in 2013, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Report. That’s up 17% from 2012, and it means that for the first time, the total is higher than broadcast TV, which was at $40B. Mobile advertising grew to $7.1B, up 110 %.
by Anthony Ha
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Mingleton Is Tinder For Strangers In The Same Room
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 10 – Mingleton is a new mobile dating app that uses iBeacon technology to help singles connect only with people in their immediate vicinity. Users sign up with Facebook before being assigned a unique beacon configuration.
Jiayuan’s Founder Starts Online English Education Business
CHINA DAILY – Apr 10 – Gong Haiyanin's is China's first online matchmaker. She started Jiayuan.com and developed it into a Nasdaq-listed company in 2011, 8 years after she set it up. The number of its registered users is 100M so far. Jiayuan.com generated net revenue of 492.6M yuan ($79.28M) in 2013, up 19.9 % YOY. After successfully bringing Jiayuan.com to the capital market, she embarked on starting her second business – online English education.
Q&A With Aaron Schildkrout, Co-Founder Of HowAboutWe
NY OBSERVER – Apr 8 – Aaron Schildkrout cofounded HowAboutWe four years ago with his longtime friend, Brian Schechter.
Q: What originally motivated you to found HAW?
A: Online dating sites were broken. They were focused on keeping people online. HAW is all about getting offline.
Q: How did you decide to make HowAboutWe for Couples?
A: We realized that couples also need to explore new places for their dates.
Q: Have you expanded in any other ways?
A: We created HowAboutWe media, which is the third division of our company. We had created a company blog called The Date Report. We acquired Nerve.com, and launched two additional blogs.
Q: Are there any leadership tactics unique to running a dating service?
A: You have to have a great product, be different and really innovate. You also have to be very good at customer acquisition.