BETAKIT – Jan 30 – Bruce Croxon, founder of Lavalife, sat down with Markus Frind, founder of POF, for an interview. While Lavalife had 400 employees and a paid service, Frind worked on the site alone and made it the largest dating site in the world. Frind said he wasn't too focused on beating Lavalife, and instead turned toward the US market. Lavalife was sold in 2010 for ~CAD$ 200M. POF was sold to The Match Group for ~CAD$ 800M ($575M).
Month: January 2016
Singles Paying People To Impersonate Them Online To Score Dates
GLOBALNEWS – Jan 30 – Anne Marshall runs an outsourced online dating service. She offers three packages that range from $175 to $500. Her client base is mostly busy women 30-60. Some of her clients eventually tell their partners that they hired her. The majority of people who use U.S.-based Virtual Dating Assistants don't tell their partners, said company founder Scott Valdez. The company has ~200 clients. "We manage our clients dating profiles from start to finish," explained Valdez. His most popular bundles tend to be for 20 hours ($460) and 40 hours ($840).
by Patricia Kozicka
See full article at GlobalNews
Creator Of Netflix & Chill App Launches Kickstarter Campaign
PRROCKET – Jan 29 – The creator of the Netflix & Chill app that matches people based on their viewing preferences has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise development funds.
The full article was originally published at PR Rocket, but is no longer available.
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
More Millennials Are Starting To Swipe Left On Tinder
NYPOST – Jan 29 – Millennials are getting promiscuous with their dating apps. "Tinder was the first mobile dating app to go mainstream, but it doesn't have that monopoly anymore," Happn spokeswoman Marie Cosnard said. "We're aware people use several dating apps." BTIG analyst Brandon Ross noted that Tinder's ranking among top-grossing mobile apps has been caught in a downward trend during the past few months (App Annie).
by James Covert
See full article at NYPost
Venntro Media Launches SomethingSerious.com
EXPRESS.CO.UK – Jan 29 – Venntro Media is expanding its dating site/apps portfolio with a new dating service for people who are looking for a serious relationship – SomethingSerious.com.
by Maisha Frost
See full article at Express.co.uk
Singles Can Have ‘Backup Plan’ With A New App
HOWSTUFFWORKS – Jan 28 – Backup Plan app is a new app created by the folks who created The Breakup Shop. The app will let users enter into a legally binding agreement to marry by an agreed-upon date, should they both still be single. Users create a profile and enter a marriage deadline date. They then rifle through local singles via a "Tinder-like interface." Should two people agree to serve as marriage backups, they establish the terms of the contract and sign it digitally.
Matchmaking App Aisle Raises $183K
VCCIRCLE – Jan 28 – Bangalore-based startup Aisle Network that runs matchmaking app Aisle, has raised Rs 1.25 crore ($183K) in its pre-Series A round. The company plans to primarily use the money for building team and partnerships.
by Arti Singh
See full article at VCCircle
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Tinder And OKCupid Get The Heavy Action After 6PM
TECH TIMES – Jan 28 – According to Nielsen users of OkCupid start getting active on the site at 6PM till 9PM. People who use Tinder start their activity at 5PM. OkCupid seemed more popular than Tinder in the morning.
by Menchie Mendoza
See full article at Tech Times
Privacy Issues Could Kill Match Group
INVESTORPLACE – Jan 27 – The real value in many online businesses is consumer data. However, that data carries the risk of being hacked. IAC spun off Match.com and lumped in The Princeton Review as well as Tutor.com. Lumping them together makes no sense unless there is a cross-promotion or data sharing between them. Jennifer Kohn, SVP of Communications at The Princeton Review said that its data is stored and managed completely independently of any other Match company. There are no US laws regarding data sharing but government crackdown on privacy and data sharing is coming. It could gut Match.com and its ability to cross-promote and share data.