Month: February 2016

The MBA And The Startup

Posted on February 11, 2016

Coffeemeetsbagel foundersPOETS AND QUANTS – Feb 10 – Coffee Meets Bagel is a dating site that delivers one match to users, a bagel, every day at noon. Members can then like or pass on their bagels. The founders are a trio of sisters. One holds an MBA from Stanford, another one the Harvard MBA. One-by-one, the sisters quit their full-time jobs to develop the site. They launched in 2012, and within a year generated $87K profit. By the end of 2014, profits had risen to ~$1M.

In Sep 2012, the sisters raised a $600K. In May 2014, they raised $2.8M and a year ago a $7.8M Series A. Despite a sizable Q4 drop, at $128B in venture investments, 2015 was the highest year in US venture since 2000. "We love investing in smart MBAs," says Adam Rothenberg, a managing partner at NY City boutique angel investment fund, BoxGroup. The MBA seems to be trending in value in a space once dominated by computer scientists and engineers.

by Nathan Allen
See full article at Poets and Quants

See all posts on Coffee Meets Bagel

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Lulu Acquired By Badoo

Posted on February 9, 2016

Lulu badoo profileTECH CRUNCH – Feb 9 – Lulu, the once controversial mobile app that let women anonymously review and rate men, has been acquired by Badoo. Lulu founder and CEO Alexandra Chong will move back to London from New York to join Badoo as President, where she'll be focusing on international expansion. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Lulu had raised $15M. The new Lulu will be powered by Badoo.

by Steve O'Hear
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Dating App The League Will Now Let Users Buy Someone A Gift

Posted on February 8, 2016

The league buy a giftBUSTLE – Feb 9 – The League, the selective dating app, which pulls in LinkedIn and Facebook info and has an admissions-based model, paired up with two on-demand services that will make same-day flower or drink deliveries in New York and San Fran.

by Michelle Toglia
See full article at Bustle

See all posts on The League

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Hinge User Survey

Posted on February 8, 2016

Hinge logo new dec 13OPW – Feb 8 – Hinge has an interesting user survey on their blog right now. They profiled 1000 members. Here's some of the most interesting takeaways.

Women are generally more choosy than guys and swipe left more. Hinge found that men who met their significant other on Hinge swiped right 12% less than the average male. They were pickier. Meanwhile, women who swiped right on Hinge swiped right 20% more than the average for women. 

Couples who met on Hinge took 3 days and 25 messages before swapping numbers. Why are we not integrating voice into apps, and keeping our members a little longer?

Response rates are 36% higher on Sunday evenings. Encourage your users to get proactive on Sundays.  

See all posts on Hinge

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

OPW Interview With Michael Egan, CEO Of Spark Networks, During iDate Miami

Posted on February 8, 2016

OPW – Feb 5 – Last year was a turnaround for Spark Networks. Four directors were voted out and new board came in. Michael Egan joined in as CEO in December 2014 from Internet Brands. Since the company had no proper mobile product, a lot of effort in 2015 was put into building a mobile dating app. They launched dating app Spark, which was an experiment, and later Crosspaths, a Tinder-like dating app within the Christian community, that has now ~20K monthly active users in LA.

Michael Egan also talked about JSwipe acquisition. Last summer Spark Networks sued Jewish dating app JSwipe but soon realized that JSwipe user base was very complementary to jDate (90% of JSwipe users are under 30, jDate users are 35+), and decided to buy it instead for $7M.

See all posts on Spark Networks

Post by the Courtland Brooks team

Scamalytics: Top Online Dating Chat-up Lines Used By Scammers

Posted on February 8, 2016

Scamalytics logo jan 16MIRROR.CO.UK – Feb 8 – Scamalytics has developed software to automatically recognize scammers and has come up with 19 of the most common phrases that should cause very loud alarm bells to go off. Here are some of them.

  • "I am ready for a serious relationship and I really look forward to starting that with the right person."
  • "I try to do my best in self-creation and in self-education."
  • "I am a decent and faithful woman trust is very important for me."

by Zahra Mulroy
See full article at Mirror.co.uk

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

eHarmony Can Grow 50% In Australia

Posted on February 8, 2016

Eharmony australia logoTHE AUSTRALIAN – Feb 8 – eHarmony says it can increase revenues from Australia, its biggest international market outside the US, by 50% in next two years. President and COO Armen Avedissian said Australia represented 10% of eHarmony's global revenue, with ~2.8M registered users. "There is so much opportunity with mobile," he said, noting the Australian business was profitable soon after its launch. The fastest-growing demographic of eHarmony is 25 to 35 years, while ~60% of users now come through mobile platforms.

See full article at The Australian

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Rise In First-date Rape Claims Linked To Online Dating

Posted on February 8, 2016

Online dating first date rapeBBC.COM – Feb 7 – The number of people reporting being raped on their first date with someone they met on a dating app has risen six-fold in five years, UK figures show. There were 184 rape allegations in the UK in 2014, up from 33 in 2009, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

See full article at BBC

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

How Americans’ Views Of Marriage Have Changed Over Time

Posted on February 8, 2016

Online-dating-684x250CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR – Feb 6 – In 1995, when Match.com began the online dating scene, finding a partner online was something you might keep to yourself. Even in 2005, 29% of Americans called it "desperate;" by 2013, that was down to 21%. Today, ~60M people use dating sites. The average age of first marriage climbed up 7 years for both genders since 1960: now age 27 for women, and 29 for men. Online dating critics often suggest that websites' endless array of potential dates helps create a non-committal culture. One third of unmarried Americans 25- 34 say financial insecurity is holding them back from marriage.

by Molly Jackson
See full article at Business Insider

See all posts on Match.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Consumer Group Asks Cnil To Look At Happn Data Practices

Posted on February 8, 2016

Happn iconTELECOMPAPER – Feb 4 – French consumer rights association UFC-Que Choisir has complained to data protection agency Cnil over suspicions that French dating app Happn transferred user data to third-party businesses. Happn co-founder Didier Rappaport denied the accusation.

See full article at Telecompaper

See all posts on Happn

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team