GAYSTARNEWS – July 11 – Samsung and Google Play have taken down gay networking apps including Jack'd in South Korea. Samsung refuses to list apps like Hornet, Grindr or Scruff in its country owing to 'local moral values.' Jack'd has ~500K users in South Korea.
Month: July 2015
Bumble, The Dating App Where Women Make The First Move
THE WASHINGTON POST – July 11 – On Bumble, every user can swipe left or right like on Tinder, but once a match is established, only female users can send an initial message to her matches. They can do so in 24h. According to Bumble, ~60% of matches result in a conversation.
Internet Dating Jobs Listing Update – July 2015
OPW – July 12 - The new Internet dating jobs listing is live on the Internet Dating Jobs blog.
Below see a couple of this month's most interesting offers:
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From our esteemed Courtland Brooks clients:
Global Personals USA (Webdate, Fling, WealthyMen, Crush.com)
Brand Manager (Caliente.com)
MillionaireMatch
Marketing Managers
Online-Buddies
Technical Project Manager
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eHarmony
Vice President, Product Management
Jiayuan
Co-director of the new media to promote
Lovoo
Director of Sales & Partnerships
Match.com, Chemistry.com, People Media
Director, Corporate Development
Zoosk
Director of Product
To see more open positions go here.
Do you have an idating industry job offer which is not included? Please, send it to petra@courtlandbrooks.com and we will add it to the list.
Anupam Mittal Steps Down As Shaadi.com CEO, Replaced By Gourav Rakshit
VCCIRCLE – July 9 – People Group founder Anupam Mittal has stepped down as CEO of online matrimonial portal Shaadi.com to focus on global expansion and new areas of business. Gourav Rakshit, who was the COO, takes over as Shaadi.com's new CEO. People Group plans to raise a big round of PE funding later this year. Mittal, who is an active angel investor in several startups, started Shaadi.com in 1996 before forming People Group to look at other opportunities in technology space. Mittal has made angel investments in ~60 startups.
by Debjyoti Roy
See full article at VCCircle
Dating App Once Raised $3.5M
VENTURE BEAT – July 9 – New York-based app Once received a $3.5M seed round from Partech Ventures and some private investors. Once’s model is to send one match to each user at noon. Once users are paired up, they will see each other at the same time. Each person gets notified when the other person is looking at the profile. And, if both are interested, the app lets them talk. The app is similar to Coffee Meets Bagel which is not a coincidence. Both apps follow the lead of the South Korean app I-UM, founded in 2010.
by Sindy Nanclares
See full article at Venture Beat
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Dating App “Blend” Uses Actual People To Screen Potential Users
METRO.US – July 10 – Dating app Blend lets users sign up with Facebook and LinkedIn, and then uses real live people to filter through the candidates. Accepted users get three invite codes to send to their friends. The app will also limit the number of 18 to 24 year olds to 35% of the total users.
Tinder And Expedia Hooked Up For A Study
PASTEMAGAZINE – July 9 – Expedia and Tinder are hooking up, putting their brains together. They have recently collaborated on a Foreign Affairs Study that explores how Americans conduct certain “affairs” abroad. According to the study, most American travelers who use Tinder prefer to use it when traveling in a group rather than solo. 30% of Americans would be willing to take a weekend getaway with a partner within the first 1-3 months of dating.
Coffee Meets Bagel Launches In London
STANDARD.CO.UK – July 9 – Coffee Meets Bagel, a dating site founded by three US-based, South Korean-born sisters, uses Facebook profile to recommend matches based on users’ friends of friends. Every day at noon, users receive their top match and have 24 hours to "like" or "pass". The app is already available in the US, Hong Kong, Sydney and Toronto.
by Jamie Nimmo
See full article at Standard.co.uk
Two Former RSVP.com.au Executives Launched Indian Dating Site
STARTUPSMART – July 9 – Australian-based dating startup Troozi was developed by Lija Wilson and Nikhil Jain, who met in 2005 while working for Fairfax on RSVP.com.au, Australia’s biggest dating website. Troozi is primarily an online dating site, with an app and a mobile version. Troozi is still in beta, and claims 115K members. It’s currently monetized through a subscription-based service and advertising on the site. Wilson says they’ve so far targeted marketing to just Mumbai and Delhi, but ~28% of users have been gained organically through word-of-mouth.
Online Dating Fuels New Danger For Gays In India
WSJ – July 8 – Since India’s Supreme Court re-criminalized gay sex in 2013, homosexuals have increasingly become targets of robbery and extortion, gay men and activists say. The trend has also been fueled by the rise of Internet dating. In Dec '13, India’s Supreme Court found the law, which dates to the British colonial era, wasn’t unconstitutional and could be changed or repealed only by Parliament, effectively overturning a 2009 lower-court ruling that made consensual gay sex legal. The law is known as Section 377. Gay-dating apps and websites, including Grindr and PlanetRomeo BV, have been expanding in India. In the six months through the end of April, Grindr's users had grown by ~50% YOY. The Internet gives many men a false sense of security, and men are often blackmailed for violating Section 377.
by Gabriele Parussini
See full article at WSJ