April 2015 – Page 4 – Online Personals Watch

HowAboutWe Launches New Dating App “Tonight”

Posted on April 16, 2015

METRO.US – Apr 16 – Tonight is a new dating app from HowAboutWe. “We’re bringing an entirely new experience to HowAboutwe,” said CEO and co-founder Brian Schecter. “The idea is that someone can say, ‘I want to go out tonight,’ and they can see users who also want to go out tonight.” Users get a “look book” of 20 people to like or not like, similar to Tinder or Hinge. Then, Tonight sets up the user with a “match” after both users like each other, but Tonight will only set users up with one match. Schecter is also relaunching HowAboutWe to be free for mutual matches. Users who like and like each other back will be able to message each other free of charge – a change from HowAboutWe’s old model, in which users had to pay to communicate.

by Andrea Park
See full article at Metro.us

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Marijuana Dating App “High There!” Approved By Apple And Google

Posted on April 16, 2015

SILICONANGLE – Apr 15 – Apple and Google have approved "High There" dating app for marijuana lovers for worldwide downloads. High There creator Todd Mitchem explains that his app is not about encouraging drug use. “We are a social network. If you are someone interested in the movement and want to meet nice, chill people, that’s what it’s about", he says. The app does not permit photos of marijuana consumption or any illegal activities.

by Eric David
See full article at SiliconAngle

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IDEA Dinners Around The World

Posted on April 15, 2015

OPW – Apr 15 – The Internet Dating Executive Alliance (IDEA) has 700+ members, 60% of which are CEOs or owners of iDating companies. It's by invitation only, for executives/owners/leaders of iDating companies.

I’m hosting IDEA Roundtable dinners in May/June. Each dinner will have a discussion theme based on a question, and a special guest. Can you make any of these dates?

NYC – Mon 11th May – What is the future of iDating?
Dallas – Wed 13th May – Will Match rule the world?
L.A. – Thu 14th May – Can eHarmony extend their brand?
San Francisco – Thu 21st May – Where’s the opportunity in wearable computing?
Beijing – Wed 27th May – What are the top dating sites in Asia now?
Boston – Wed 3rd June – How can we gain true strategic competitive advantage?
London – Tue 9th June – Is private labeling the future, or is it mired because of mobile?

Please email me at mark@courtlandbrooks.com to RSVP. These dinners are meant to be small, and are just for owners and executives of the top Internet dating companies. Intimate discussions of interesting topics with your peers, in private.

This initiative is sponsored by .

Please consider using BeehiveID services to authenticate your users and improve the quality of your dating site. Please email me at mark@courtlandbrooks.com for a white paper on 'social authentication.'

Post by Mark Brooks @

AshleyMadison.com Seeks IPO In London

Posted on April 15, 2015

BOSTON GLOBE – Apr 15 - AshleyMadison.com wants to pursue an IPO in London this year. Avid Life Media, the site’s parent company, which failed with a previous IPO attempt in Canada, said it is looking to raise ~ $200M. The company wants the new funds for marketing and international expansion. AshleyMadison has 36M members in 46 countries. While the US accounts for ~50% of its business, Europe is the only region where the company has a real chance of doing an IPO because of its more liberal attitude towards adultery. The company has also set a target that 50 – 60% of its sales will come from Asia by 2020, including Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

by Kristen Schweizer
See full article at Boston Globe

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Tinder Integrates Instagram

Posted on April 15, 2015

TECH CRUNCH – Apr 15 - Tinder released an update today that integrates directly with Instagram, letting users scroll through the Instagram profiles of their potential matches within the app itself. With Instagram inside Tinder, users can click into a user’s Instagram profile and see the most recent 34 pictures, with the ability to click directly into their profile. The updated Tinder also adds common connection information into the mix. Tinder has also included all Facebook interests on users' profile.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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eHarmony Available On SmartWatches

Posted on April 15, 2015

BUSINESS WIRE – Apr 14 - eHarmony has introduced its mobile app with smartwatch support for Android Wear and Samsung Gear S devices. The smartwatches will display enhanced notifications that are synced with the users’ phone.

The full article was originally published at Yahoo Finance, but is no longer available.

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Momo Ordered To Clean Up Its Reputation By Chinese Government

Posted on April 14, 2015

SEEKING ALPHA – Apr 14 – Momo's IPO did quite well by rising 26% on its first trading day last December. But since then the stock has sagged and mostly traded ~30% below its IPO price of $13.50. The stock fell ~4% in the latest trading session. The shares could take a hit as Beijing pressures it to clean up its reputation as a "one night stand" app. The Ministry of Culture has warned the company to clean up its act. Failure to take action could result in fines for Momo, or could even result in limitations or a suspension of some services.

by Doug Young
See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Rendeevoo Dating App Cuts Straight To Cocktails

Posted on April 14, 2015

TECH CRUNCH – Apr 13 – UK startup Rendeevoo cuts to the chase by cutting out the chat element. Users browse profiles and when they like someone they can place "an order" by selecting when and where they want the date to take place, and then pay for it. They are paying for one cocktail at one of the East London bars that Rendeevoo has partnered with. Both parties have to confirm before the transactions are processed. Users can cancel the date up to 30 minutes before without being penalized. The app soft launched in April 2014 and raised ~$150K over the past 10 months, with ~$50K pulled in from crowdfunding via Seedrs.

by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

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Majority Of People Would Rather Win Lottery Than Find True Love

Posted on April 14, 2015

PR NEWSWIRE – Apr 13 – A new survey, sponsored by online lottery pool LottoLishus, found that 58.37% of respondents would want to win the lottery over being famous (3.35%) or find the love of their life (38.28%). 3.9% of people would give up their spouse for a lottery winning of less than $10K, while 9.33% would give them up for $100M or more.

See full article at PR Newswire

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Bumble, Siren, The Grade – Female Friendly Dating Apps

Posted on April 13, 2015

THE GUARDIAN – Apr 12 – There are now ~91M people on dating apps – and most of that is thanks to Tinder that makes 21M matches and processes 1.5B swipes every day. A new generation of app developers, many of them women, are launching female-orientated dating apps where women are the gatekeepers. One of them is Bumble, founded by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe. "Bumble is about establishing equality", she says. "When some men feel rejected, they respond with aggression. So if we eliminate the rejection, what is there to be aggressive about?” Susie Lee is the creator of Siren, an app where a woman’s photos are hidden to men until she chooses to match with them. Siren is expanding globally in the summer. Even more interesting is Wyldfire. The app's initial unique selling point is that only men invited by women could be a part of the app, though it has recently introduced an “election” feature where men can offer themselves up to have their profile vetted by female members. The Grade marks users from A+ to F depending on their popularity, quality of messages and responsiveness.

by Hannah Ellis-Petersen
See full article at The Guardian

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