TECH CRUNCH – Dec 4 – IAC Chairman Barry Diller talked about Tinder while onstage today at Business Insider’s Ignition conference. He did not directly address the fact that co-founder Sean Rad will step down from his role as CEO. Instead he said that leaving Tinder to the founders was key to its early success. Rad’s co-founder Justin Mateen had already been suspended from the company following a sexual harassment lawsuit from former VP of marketing Whitney Wolfe.
Month: December 2014
Dating App LoveFlutter Hosts Paper Bag Speed Dating
ABC NEWS – Dec 3 - LoveFlutter has been dubbed “anti-Tinder”. LoveFlutter users find matches based on 140-character blurbs, which the company calls #QuirkyFact, before their photos are revealed. To create an account, users also have to take a “Quirky Interesting” Test. The app is also hosting special speed-dating events where participants wear paper bags over their heads.
The full article was originally published at KTIC, but is no longer available.
Lulu App’s Truth Bombs Lets Users Anonymously Ask About Sex
BUSTLE – Dec 3 - Lulu App’s Truth Bombs feature allows male and female users to anonymously ask, answer, and comment on intimate questions regarding sex and relationships. Men are allowed to post questions, but only the male poster is allowed to make comments on his thread. When a female creates a post, men are barred from chiming in. However, all male users can read all posts, even if they can’t participate in the conversation.
iHookup Reaches 445K Registered Users
SYS-CON – Dec 3 – iHookup, mobile social dating app, continued its user acquisition strategy for Q4 by adding ~49K new downloads. To date, the company has now surpassed 445K registered users.
Vote For The 2015 Annual iDate Awards
WEBWIRE – Dec 2 – Voting for the 2015 iDate Awards remains open till January 2nd, 2015. ~2K votes have been cast so far. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on January 21, 2015 in Las Vegas during the Internet Dating Conference (iDate).
BeehiveID Wins IBM Smart Camp People’s Choice Award
PRESS RELEASE – Dec 3 – BeehiveID won the People’s Choice Award at North America Regional IBM Smart CampCompetition in San Francisco. BeehiveID works to identify fraudulent online accounts by investigating behaviors on social networks.
The full article was originally published at Virtual Strategy Magazine, but is no longer available.
Bumble Is Exactly Like Tinder Except Girls Are In Charge
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 2 – Whitney Wolfe and a group of other former Tinder employees has just launched Tinder competitor called Bumble. It’s almost identical to Tinder but guys are not allowed to send the first message on Bumble. Girls must initiate the conversation with their matches, or else they disappear after 24 hours. The only control the guy has in the situation is the ability to extend one match each day for an extra 24 hours.
Philippines Seeks To Block Ashley Madison
AFP – Dec 3 – The Philippine justice secretary is seeking to block Ashley Madison in the country – under charges it facilitates crime. AshleyMadison officially launched in Philippines last week. The population is largely Roman Catholic and divorce is illegal. Adultery also remains against the law in the Philippines, even though it has largely been un-enforced and is a country where many powerful men flaunt their mistresses.
Momo To Raise Up To $232M From US IPO
GLOBAL TIMES – Nov 30 – Momo, Chinese mobile social app, plans to raise ~$232M from a listing in NASDAQ. The IPO price will be $12.50 – $14.50 per share. Momo launched in Aug '11, and claims 180.3M registered users. Momo's fast emergence has been accompanied by controversy over its functions, as some users use the app for setting up blind dates or seeking one-night stands. The app began to generate revenues in 2013 from subscription fees, mobile games, paid emoticons and mobile marketing services, but the company has yet to post a profit. It reported a net loss of $22.9M in the first nine months of 2014.
by Chen Yang
See full article at Global Times
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
