by Kane Fulton
See full article at TechRadar
Month: January 2017
UK Online Dating Fraud Victim Numbers At Record High
BBC.COM – Jan 23 – According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, there were 3,889 victims of romance fraud last year, who handed over a record £39M. One woman who lost ~£300,000 says she felt emotionally "brutalised". She met the scammer on Match.com. Match.com says it provides regular advice on how to stay safe and suggests members keep conversations on the site "so that our customer care team can identify abnormal activity".
Visiting New York City Internet Dating Stars
Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.
Dating App Buyers Wanted
OPW – Jan 23 – I'm making a list of dating app buyers. If you are interested in buying Mobile dating apps and Internet dating services and have at least $500k USD, up to $2 million banked and ready to spend, please contact me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com.
I'm attending the Buyers and Sellers gathering at iDate on Tuesday evening. We usually have a 60/40 ratio of sellers vs buyers, so I'd like to redress that balance by seeking a few more buyers. I'll interview sellers at the iDate meeting and match you with a couple of interesting companies to consider buying.
Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.
Paktor Acquires Casual Dating App Down
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 21 – The terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the price was reportedly "several million". Colin Hodge, the founder and CEO of Down, will join the Paktor team and will run Down and Sweet apps. He will also be overseeing Paktor Labs and be responsible for acquiring other apps, amongst other things. Down started in 2013 (as Bang With Friends) and grew to 5M downloads, about 200k MAU and $1M annual revenue from in-app purchases.
by Katie Roof
See full article at Tech Crunch
See all posts on Paktor
See all posts on Down
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Dating Apps Should Display Warnings About Rape, Thinks One UK Lawmaker
TOWLEROAD – Jan 20 – One of Manchester's Councillors, former Member of Parliament John Leech, is demanding that dating apps such as Grindr and Tinder will include safety notices to help prevent the troubling number of criminal incidents connected to their use. ~500 criminal incidents across the United Kingdom, including murder, rape and child abuse, 162 of which are listed as sexual offenses, have been linked to both Grindr and Tinder.
Maple Match: Last Chance To Flee Trump’s America
GOOD.IS – Jan 20 – Founded in May 2016 by Austin-based entrepreneur Joe Goldman, Maple Match promises to "Make Dating Great Again" by pairing Trump-fearing American citizens with Canadians. Within a week of launch, 13K people signed up, despite the fact that the app didn't officially launch until November. The night following the election, enrollment doubled almost overnight.
Dating App For Mindful Living Raises Over $1.075M
FUNDABLE – Jan 19 – MeetMindful is a new dating platform for the mindful living market. The MeetMindful app officially launched in June 2015 after they successfully demoed their prototype in Denver and Boulder. They gained major traction in 2016 and went through Techstars in Spring 2016. Since then, user growth and revenue generation have been growing quickly with over 180k registered users, 4k daily active users, and ~$1M in revenue to date. They have raised over $1.075M in their current round and are still accepting investors to oversubscribe. They have so far secured ~$2M.
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Tinder Appoints Director For Russia
KOMMERSANT – Jan 19 – Tinder has hired Alexey Shelestenko, former Twiter's Media Partnership Manager, as Tinder new Country manager for Russia.
Inside The Acquisition Of Dating App Bae
TECHNICAL.LY – Jan 19 – Bae announced earlier this month it was being acquired by if(we), the parent company of the social networks Tagged and Hi5, among others. The app, founded by brothers Brian and Justin Gerrard, is moving to San Francisco and folding into if(we).
Q: Why did you guys decide to sell?
Brian Gerrard: Tagged is where we would aspire Bae to be in 10 years. They have tremendous technical talent and a time testing business. We are happy to bring our marketing and growth expertise to their business via the acqui-hire.
Q: How much did it sell for?
BG: The terms of the deal are currently undisclosed.
Q: How were you approached by if(we)?
BG: if(we) is chasing a similar user to Bae in the U.S. — Black singles. We had success with tapping into the Black millennial market, and so they saw an opportunity to bring us in and do so on a larger scale.
Q: What will you guys be doing for them?
BG: I am heading up marketing and innovation at if(we) in San Fran. I am also continuing my startup consulting practice via brianjgerrard.co.
Q: What was the experience like of building up a product from nothing to be valuable enough to have an exit?
BG: It was a tremendous effort, an experience that I wouldn't change for anything. I have learned more about business working on Bae then I have in my entire career.
by Tyler Woods
See full article at Technical.ly