DIGIDAY – Aug 16 – This week, gay hookup app Grindr launched a digital magazine called Into, which had been in pilot mode since March. Grindr hopes its new publishing arm can win over big brands that are otherwise pretty nervous about their ads appearing next to sexual content. Grindr hired seven full-time editorial people to create content for Into. Former Out magazine editor Zach Stafford is the new website's editor-in-chief. The content aims to attract millennials, the elusive demographic that advertisers are most thirsty to reach. Among Grindr's users in the U.S., 64% are under 34.
Month: August 2017
CEO Of League: Things You Should Know About Launching In A Crowded Market
FORBES – Aug 17 – The League, which is live in 16 cities and growing quickly, is one example of innovation in the dating space. It sets a daily limit of three to five matches. "You have to login every day. I like to think it makes you value each profile a little more," said the app's founder Amanda Bradford. Bradford herself is an alumnus of Sequoia Capital, Salesforce, Google, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford. She shared her top three strategies for building a company in an undervalued space at a recent brunchwork at Galvanize, the 21st century school for engineers, entrepreneurs and data scientists.
- Don't hesitate
- Invest in yourself Regardless of your industry, you have to "be okay with using your own funding," Bradford said.
- Get comfortable with hearing 'NO.'
Match Group Launches Lesbian Dating App In Brazil
JORNAL DIA DIA – Aug 16 – Match Group LatAm is launching Femme, a dating app for gay women looking for a serious relationship. The app was created and developed in Brazil. The launch is part of Match Group LatAm's strategy of investing in niche relationship sites and apps.
by Ray Santos
The full article was originally published at Jornal Dia Dia, but is no longer available.
East Meet East Raises $3.2 Million
NEWSCENTER – Aug 16 – East Meet East is an online dating service for English-speaking Asian singles living in the U.S. The app has just raised $3.2M from an undisclosed investor.
See full article at NewsCenter
See all posts on East Meet East
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Tagged Launches Tagged Live
BUSINESSWIRE – Aug 16 – The Meet Group announces new live-streaming and gifting features on its mobile app, Tagged. Tagged Live allows users to broadcast and view live-streamed video and earn and send virtual gifts.
See full article at BusinessWire
US Dating App Whispers Mulls $45M ICO
DEAL STREET ASIA – Aug 15 – US-based video streaming dating app Whispers Live is looking to raise ~$30-45M through an initial coin offering (ICO). Whispers, which is in beta mode, said it will offer 10-15% of its 1B digital coins, called RoseCoin, each at 0.001 Ethereum, which is currently priced at $300. The transaction is expected to take place on September 9, 2017. Whispers aims to expand to North America and Australia in the Q1 2018, then Southeast Asia and Africa in the next quarter.
by Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc
See full article at Deal Street Asia
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Global Cybercrime Levels Reach All-time High
MARKETWIRED – Aug 14 – ThreatMetrix, the digital identity company, revealed that cybercrime attacks have reached their highest-ever levels, with 144M attacks detected over the last 90 days. The ThreatMetrix Q2 Cybercrime Report revealed cybercrime has gone up ~100% since 2015.
Q&A With OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Aug 13 – After being named CEO of OkCupid in May 2016, Elie Seidman revamped the design of the app to include in-depth info about users and requiring them to answer questions about political beliefs.
Q: What has been the most difficult part about transitioning to CEO of an online dating site?
A: The real question when I started was, what is the core of this brand? The challenge that I saw was how consumers and customers conceptualize the category. We put our focus into "substance over selfies" – connecting based on shared sensibilities.
Q: Could you explain the "substance over selfies" focus?
A: We want people to meet someone based on who they are, not what they look like. We let users create their profiles by answering 15 iconic OkCupid questions.
Q: What is the biggest change happening in online dating right now?
A: Swiping apps went through a novelty phase. We're no longer in that phase.
Q: What does OkCupid do about harassment?
A: We have a very large and effective moderation team in the U.S. It combines artificial intelligence and machine learning to look at data points to see what's happening. If there is something a machine can't make a decision on, it gets kicked over to human moderators.
Q: What has been the most surprising online dating behavior you've learned about your users?
A: Dating habits do vary by city. For example, New York is the very worst U.S. city for guys messaging women, who reply to men's messages only 10% of the time.
Q: What is the biggest difference between meeting people online and meeting people in person?
A: There is an ineffable element of chemistry which you can't tell easily online.
Q: Where do big data and algorithms fall short when it comes to love?
A: The thing that we at OkCupid have going for us is that while we cannot replace chemistry, what we can do is find a lot of people with shared sensibility.
Julia Schygulla Named Bumble’s Country Manager Germany
WUV.DE – Aug 11 – Dating app Bumble launched in Germany earlier this year and opened a new office in Munich. Julia Schygulla will manage the day-to-day operations and activities of the app in Germany. Previously, she worked with Burda, where she served as a fashion news director.
OkCupid Launches Anti-dick Pic Pledge
