LONDONIST – May 25 – happn has launched in London, offering the shy or busy a way to connect. The app uses hyper-locality and immediate proximity to find potential matches among other users that are encountered throughout the day. A mutual like will initiate a chat. User location remains private, but the place users crossed paths is saved. happn is available on iOS and Android for free.
Month: May 2014
iDate Las Vegas 2014, Mark Brooks Keynote Presentation
OPW – May 26 – As we approach iDate Beverly Hills 2014, please enjoy Mark Brooks’ full keynote presentation from iDate Las Vegas in January. The following topics are covered:
- Market Overview
- Public Companies
- Mobile
- Funding & Acquisitions
- Top News
- The Future
- Lessons From The Deadpool
- Valuations
Top 5 Presentation Picks At Internet Dating Conference
OPW – May 25 – I'm speaking at iDate, giving a roundup of essential news-you-can-use, plucking the key numbers available on mobile dating and layering in some hard-line commentary. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it as our 3rd daughter was due to be born right around iDate. But our prior two were early, and l'il Madeleine May Brooks was similarly early. 🙂
So here's what I think could be the top 5 presentations at iDate, that you can't afford to miss. My money's on the following being high-ROI presentations.
– Sonny Vu will talk about Wearable computing. We cannot afford to miss the boat on wearables. I'm so excited and committed to wearables that we created wearable.ai to study the industry. So make sure to get to Sonny's presentation.
– It pains me to do this, because payment processing presentations are usually a snoozefest, but I have to recommend you be in Honor Gunday's (Paymentwall) presentation. I admire this man. Several years ago he blew me away with his presentation on Yonja, and he's never failed to deliver the goods. Don't miss it. And its good for you to see what Paysafecard has to offer as well.
– Michael Jones knows the iDating industry cold. Few have spent longer in it, or got deeper knowledge. He left Userplane to run MySpace. If anyone could have turned MySpace around, its him, so I'll throw a couple questions in about that. But mainly he's going to advise us about the investment environment around iDating now. One of my favorite subjects, and biggest concerns. I'll be interviewing him fireside style. Please let me know (mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com) any questions you'd like me to ask him.
– Match just teamed up with Three Day Rule, and the COO, Jill James, is speaking. You cannot miss this session. A few years back Jim Safka, the CEO of Match, said he planned on building Match to $1b+ and high end matchmaking was going to take them there. Plans fizzled, but now they're back in action. Que!? If you're confused about matchmaking, Jill should help shine a light on this nether industry.
– Alex Harrington is the former CEO of Meetmoi, and is now COO of Are You Interested / Snap Interactive. He's a real gentleman, and someone I just wouldn't miss speaking. He's talking about personality assessment. We've heard psychologists talk about this before, but I'd like to hear how he translates shrink-talk into practical assessment tools that improve conversions and retention.
That's my five must-sees. I'll be there. I hope to see you in Beverly Hills at the fantastic SLS Hotel in 11 days.
The Love Machine – 1955 Mechanical Match-maker
GIZMODO – May 20 – In the 1920's, technology magazines insisted highly scientific tests would find the perfect match. By the '50s, mechanical computers were the future. In 1955, American Weekly ran an article featuring a small German town's “slot machine sweethearts.” The machine featured photos of different men along with a short description. A woman would insert two marks, and a more detailed note describing her potential match would pop out, which she'd then take to a love-agent to make the introduction.
by Matt Novak
See full article at Gizmondo
The Future of Internet Dating, Mark Brooks Presentation
OPW – May 23 – Advances in technology and artificial intelligence will shape the future of internet dating. Mobile has overtaken web in the market. Genetic matchmaking and wearable technology will also enter the dating market.
Please view the video below for additional predictions of the future of online dating.
Coffee Meets Bagel Replaces Twilio With Own IM
TECH CRUNCH – May 23 - Coffee Meets Bagel released a major update today, which ended its use of Twilio for messaging in favor of its own IM. The feature retains its 7-day expiry. CMB has found that users who exchange texts within the first 24 hrs are more likely to exchange phone numbers and were chatting at 2.6x the volume of those who didn’t, so the update gives them more control over this experience. The company has raised $2.8M in funding.
by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mobile Overview, Mark Brooks Presentation
OPW – May 23 – In 2012, PlentyofFish 659K average daily visitors on its app, equating to 68% of time spent on all dating apps. In 2013, Match.com took the top mobile spot with 4.6M total unique visitors. Mobile dating revenue grew from $43M in 2009 to $213M in 2012, a 70% average.
For additional companies and details, please view the video below.
Match.com Prime For Investment
THE MOTLEY FOOL – May 22 – IAC, parent company of Match Group, has seen its stock up ~30% in the past 12 months, and 300% since 2009. IAC's Q1 revenue was $740M, with Match Group accounting for $211, and Search & Applications netting $398M. Match Group revenue grew 9% in Q1. Domestic sales were up 7%, international up 12%. The number of people who have tried a dating product grew by ~20%, Match believes that will lead to 20% growth in the company in the next 5 years.
by Philip Saglimbeni
The full article was originally published at The Motley Fool, but is no longer available.
Moovz Secures $1.4M In New Funding
TECHINASIA – May 23 – Moovz has secured a new $1.4M round, bringing total funding to $2.4M since launch last October. The Israel-based startup is a location-based flirting app for gay males. The app has over 70K users, up from 30K in February. Moovz has seen 15M chats, 9M comments, and 500K image uploads. The app is most popular in the Philippines, followed by Mexico, the US, and Brazil.
by Steven Millward
See full article at TechInAsia
Learn more about Courtland Brooks
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.