BUSINESSWIRE – Nov 19 – eHarmony's latest move in its strategy to grow in new markets globally is the development of eHarmony.com/espanol. The new Spanish site will serve the 37% of eHarmony’s bilingual users who speak Spanish as well as a growing demographic of online daters in Latin America and beyond. eHarmony is already available in Singapore, the UK and Australia.
Month: November 2015
Match Group Higher Following IPO
SEEKING ALPHA – Nov 19 – After pricing its 33.3M share IPO at $12, Match Group opened at $13.50 and is now at $13.10, up 9.2%.
by Eric Jhonsa
See full article at Seeking Alpha
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Match Prices Its IPO AT $12 Per Share
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 19 – Match has priced its IPO at $12 per share, raising $400M. The company will begin trading on the Nasdaq today under the ticker symbol 'MTCH.'
by Alex Wilhelm, Katie Roof & Matthew Lynley
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
JDate And ChristianMingle Get Makeovers
MARKETWIRED – Nov 18 – Spark Networks' JDate and ChristianMingle have both been redesigned to debut sleek new appearances, improve back-end platforms, and provide easier-to-use functionality.
Users Of Dating Sites In India Will Have To Submit Their ID
HINDUSTAN TIMES – Nov 19 – A proof of identity may soon be a must for joining a matrimonial site with the government working on guidelines to regulate online matchmaking market. A passport or a voter identity card, or any such proof held valid by the government, may have to be submitted.
Somewhat Disastrous Interview With Tinder’s CEO
STANDARD.CO.UK – Nov 18 – On Friday, Tinder's parent company, The Match Group, is due to float on the New York stock exchange. Analysts believe the app, which launched in 2012, has ~80M users worldwide and records 1.8B "swipes" a day. It is reported that Rad owns ~10% of the company. He admits he's "addicted" to Tinder – "every other week I fall in love with a new girl" – but right now is single. He is not interested in beautiful women though. "I need an intellectual challenge," he says. Tinder is launching an education and workplace add-on that will helps users identify their intellectual equals. Rad is still upset about Vanity Fair article, accusing Tinder of heralding the "dawn of the dating apocalypse". "Our research shows 80% of users are looking for a long-term meaningful relationship," he said.
Chinese Tinder “Tantan” Is Easy To Hack, Claims Expert
SCMP – Nov 17 – Hong Kong based expert uses free Wifi and developer's program to demonstrate how easy it is to hack Tantan, the Chinese dating app used by millions. Cybersecurity expert Larry Salibra said he could access Tantan users' photos, details, chat logs and even their location. Tantan's CEO and co-founder Yu Wang admitted changes needed to be made to protect users' privacy on his app. Tantan, similar to Tinder, was founded in July 2014. The app had drawn ~2M users in one year.
The Breakup Shop Helps People With Breaking Up
MASHABLE – Nov 14 – The Breakup Shop is a new company that helps people breakup with their significant other for $10 – $40. The Breakup Shop will do the dirty work over text, email, phone or an actual physical letter. Texting is cheapest at $10, while a custom letter is $30. Customers have the option to craft their own personal messages with the company's "expert breakup team".
Tinder’s Claim About Creating More Meaningful Matches Is Bull
WASHINGTON POST – Nov 11 – Tinder released an updated version of its matching algorithm. CEO Sean Rad promised that it would revolutionize the quantity of matches. According to Northwestern University's psychologist Eli Finkel, relationship success depends on three things: individual characteristics, quality of interaction and surrounding circumstances. Matching algorithms tend to focus on personality alone. And large-scale studies of married couples have shown that the similarity of partners' personalities accounts for only 0.5% of how happy they are.
Dating App “Once” Returns To Old School Human Matchmaking
MASHABLE – Nov 13 – Once is a new dating app that has launched in UK. On Once, daters are chosen by human matchmakers. The app launched in France a few weeks ago and gained 150K users in less than a month.