VANCOUVER SUN – July 15 – In the interview, Markus Frind shared his story and what the acquisition holds for the future of POF.
Month: July 2015
Match Bought POF, And Cements Its Position As Market Leader
MARKETWATCH – July 15 – The Match Group announced that it will buy PlentyofFish for $575M in cash before going public. "In this industry, size really matters," says Mark Brooks, a dating-industry analyst and the editor of Online Personals Watch. "The Match Group gains very sizable key strategic assets and very effectively cements its position as market leader." The US online dating industry is dominated by IAC, with 21.8% market share. While each site has its own secret set of algorithms, the industry is consolidating and becoming more efficient from a business perspective.
"Making ideal matches is a virgin science," Brooks says. "We don't really know when we've been successful, so we don't really know when the algorithm has actually worked." That will soon change with the popularity of location-based apps and mobile technology, he says. "We'll be able to survey singles before and after dates." "Dating algorithms do exactly what they're designed to do, which is to match to sets for data,"” says Amy Webb, author of "Data, a Love Story: How I Gamed Dating to Meet My Match." Some dating sites beg to differ: "eHarmony has only a divorce rate of 3.86%, well below the national average of 40% to 50%."
by Quentin Fottrell
See full article at Marketwatch
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MileHi Connects People On The Flight
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – July 14 – MileHi is a new dating app that works like Tinder but connects people in the terminal and on the flight. MileHi's owner insists that the primary function of the app is to be a business tool. Once users sign up, their occupation is revealed, as well as their marital status. The app connects people in the vicinity and allows participants to accept or reject prospective dates with a single ‘swipe’ according to whether they consider them hot or not. People can decide before they fly whether they want to switch to sit next to each other before they fly. Virgin Atlantic said it was relaxed about the new MileHi app. A spokeswoman said: 'Networking in the sky isn't necessarily new as many business meetings have taken place at our Upper Class bar. It's the perfect place to for our customers to meet their fellow passengers.'
Asia Grows Richer But Lonelier
SCMP.COM – July 15 – The Asian dating apps market is growing. Paktor, a matchmaking app similar to Tinder, has just raised $7.4M. Paktor said it will use the money to attract more users in Japan and South Korea and expand beyond dating into platonic matchmaking. Recent studies suggest there is a growing demand for meeting new people with similar interests. In South Korea, loneliness is now so entrenched it has become fodder for public entertainment. This is highlighted by the growing trend of mukbang ("eating-broadcast") shows in the country, where people live-stream themselves wolfing down family sized dinners to audiences nationwide.
by Tim Chen
See full article at SCMP.com
How Match.com’s Founder Walked Away With $50K
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 15 – In 1994, when only ~5% of Americans had Internet, Gary Kremen took a $2,500 advance on his credit card to buy the domain name Match.com. Today, Match is one of the most-visited dating sites in the country. According to comScore, it attracted ~6M unique visitors in May 2015. 2 years after founding the company, Kremen walked away with just $50K. In 1993. Kremen was paying $2.99 per minute on 900-number dating services. He found it inefficient so he founded Electric Classifies, an online personals database. Late in 1994, he secured ~$1.5M in funding. Match went live in April 1995. Deepak Kamra, the lead VC at Canaan Partners responsible for the Match investment, said the early content was “borderline porn.” The VCs had serious doubts about Kremen’s management skills. They removed Kremen from the CEO post in mid-1995.
What Do You Think Of The New Match Ads?
OPW – July 15 – The new Match.com ads are great / ok / terrible. What’s your thoughts? They position Match as not-for-hookups (thats Tinder isn’t it?) or Marriage (thats eharmony), but Match.com is for a strong connection. Here’s the ads…
Match Group Buys PlentyOfFish For $575M
TECH CRUNCH – July 14 – Match Group has agreed to acquire PlentyOfFish (POF) for $575 million in cash and expects to close early in Q4. Tinder flicked the monetization switch this spring. Singles are a core demographic for marketing other types of self-improvement services where Match/IAC also plays.
"As more people than ever use more dating apps than ever with more frequency than ever, PlentyOfFish’s addition both brings new members into our family of products and deepens the lifetime relationship we have with our users across our portfolio," said Sam Yagan, CEO of The Match Group. "I look forward to working closely with Markus and extending the company’s impressive growth trajectory." The acquisition adds 3 million daily actives to IAC’s digital media portfolio of more than 150 brands and 20 operating businesses. Match Group covers ~50 brands in the dating, education and fitness space. IAC reports 370 million unique monthly users and 2.5 billion monthly visits to its entire portfolio.
by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: Recently Markus said he was at a $100 million revenue run rate. Match bought Singlesnet, OKCupid, then Datehookup. So the writing has been on the wall for some time. It was just a matter of price. Tinder showed that Match Group could seed and grow a credible threat to the POF business. It's a good time for Markus to join with Match Group, and cash in his chips.
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Paktor Lands $7.4M To Go Beyond Dating And Into Friendships
TECH CRUNCH – July 14 – Paktor, a service focused on Southeast Asia, has closed $7.4M Series B round that will go towards expanding its userbase and developing beyond dating to social discovery. Paktor raised $3M last Nov. Its registered userbase rose from 1.5M in Nov to ~5M today. Southeast Asia and Taiwan are their biggest markets. Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, is on track to overtake Taiwan. Now, Paktor is focused on making its mark in other parts of Asia, particularly Japan and Korea. While Paktor doesn’t have a premium membership, it has tested features such as gifting, search base on premium metrics, and contacting 'top' users on each country’s leaderboard. It also runs group chat rooms.
by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Jiayuan Committed To Buyout
FORBES – July 13 - Jiayuan is still committed to the privatization process that could end with its departure from New York and re-listing of its shares in its home China market. The reason is that investors are far more likely to get excited about a stock when they’re familiar with its name and business model, giving it a better valuation than it would get from less familiar buyers in overseas markets. That's why most companies choose to make their primary listings in their home stock markets.
The Match Group Spin-Off Preliminary Bullish Thesis
SEEKING ALPHA – July 13 – IAC is planning to spin-off its Match Group and pursue an IPO for the new company. IAC has a history of successful spin-offs of significant business such as Expedia, LendingTree, TicketMaster and Home Shopping Network. The Match Group dominates ~50% of the $2.2B eDating market. 88% of Match group revenues are generated in the dating business. Tinder held ~70% of the mobile dating market and tripled its reach between Nov '13 and Mar '15. If Tinder could convert ~2% (typical freemium conversion rate) of its 50M users to a $20 per month, it could drive an additional $240M per year, which is ~25% of Match Group dating revenues in 2014.
by Lior Ronen
See full article at SeekingAlpha