TECHNODE – Nov 28 – Tantan is the Chinese app most comparable to Tinder. "There is a serious lack of opportunities for China's young singles to make new friends. And this problem is much bigger than that in the west," says Tantan's founder and CEO Wang Yu at TechCrunch Shanghai. "College students basically have no parties and rarely go clubbing." Tantan is 3 years old and has ~6-7M DAU and has matched ~3-4B pairs of users. The swipe-left, swipe-right feature inevitably conjures the impression of a hookup app, though the company says it has taken measures to keep the user experience "clean." For instance, Tantan claims it has shut down 30M out of its 100M registered users who are suspected harassers, salespeople, or those who use fake profile pictures.
Month: November 2017
Momo Q3 Results – Income Doubled YOY
MOMO – Nov 28 – Net revenues increased 126% YOY to $354.5M. Net income increased to $79.1M in Q3 of 2017 from $39M in the same period last year. Monthly Active Users were 94M in Sep 2017, compared to 77M in Sep 2016. Live video service continued its momentum and generated revenues of $301M. The rapid growth in live video revenues was contributed by the increase in the quarterly paying users, which was 4.1M, as well as, the increase in the average revenues per paying user per quarter.
FBI: Internet Romance Scams On The Rise
USA TODAY – Nov 29 – In 2016, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported 14,546 people were victims of romance or confidence scams, up from 5,791 people in 2014. The financial loss keeps growing as well: victims lost ~$220M in 2016, more than double the $87M lost in 2014. The Federal Trade Commission also had a spike in the number of complaints about possible romance-related scams, up more two-fold to 11,149 from 2014 levels. And those numbers likely represent just a sliver of the swindles. Shame and embarrassment keep many people from coming forward. The scammers usually have a set profile as well. Most claim they lost their wife to some form of cancer, are raising their child alone, work keeps them at a distance – often abroad – and are looking for love.
Here are tips experts offer to stay safe online:
- Don't send money to someone you don't know. Ever.
- If you do send money, get a loan agreement.
- Meet the person in real life.
- Take the relationship slowly.
- Do a background check.
- Get a second opinion.
Lunch Actually Launches First AI & Blockchain-Based Dating Project – Viola.AI
PRESS RELEASE – Nov 27 – Lunch dating company Lunch Actually Group is introducing a new project called Viola.AI, and launching its first Initial Coin Offering (ICO); set to commence its private pre-sale today. Viola.AI is a dating and relationship A.I. that generates dating and relationship content for every user based on their relationship stage. The Group is currently exploring a collaboration opportunity with AI Singapore, a government programme in Artificial Intelligence (AI) aimed to boost the nation's AI capabilities. Viola.AI project has also secured a grant from the Partner Connection Fund, an enabler fund by the Singapore Government that supports promising dating ideas.
See full article at Internet Dating Newswire
Shark Tank: Hater Dating App Accepts $200k Offer From Mark Cuban
BUSINESS2COMMUNITY – Nov 27 – Hater dating app, which went viral earlier this year, connects people based on what they hate. The sharks think it's an interesting idea. Since Valentine's Day, they have accumulated ~500k users. Barbara Corcoran loves the name and offers $250k for 5%, which she says must be accepted right away. Lori Greiner then jumps in and offers $200K for 10% with a promise to create a whole brand around the app. Corcoran then goes out since he did not immediately accept her initial offer. Mark Cuban makes an offer as well, coming in at $200K for 7.5% and 2.5% in advisory shares. Cuban likes the idea of using celebrity influencers, in addition to the gaming aspect. Robert Herjavec likes the PR angle and offers $250K for 15% with Corcoran for a total investment of $500K. Ultimately, Hater's Founder Brendan Alper accepts Cuban's offer.
by Erica Abbott
See full article at Business2Community
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
The Upmarket Dating Apps
FINANCIAL TIMES – Nov 27 – These exclusive dating apps promise a more refined, exclusive and ultimately fruitful experience.
- Raya – an "exclusive" dating app that offers access to another echelon of society. According to members, entry into the club is a semi-arbitrary process that depends on users' status in the celebrity hierarchy, looks and following on Instagram.
- The Inner Circle – it was founded in 2012 in Amsterdam by David Vermeulen . "We try to focus on people who are inspiring and ambitious," he says, adding it has ~500K users worldwide. The site uses Facebook and LinkedIn to help vet applicants and runs events.
- The League – aims at the same demographic. "You're joining a community of triple-vetted people who are ambitious and intellectual enough to have a LinkedIn account and you're seeing what they do and their background," says founder Amanda Bradford, who started the company in 2014 and says it now has 250K MAU.
by Kadhim Shubber
See full article at Financial Times
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Bumble – Inside The Most Female-friendly Office
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – Nov 27 – Bumble designed its new headquarters in Texas, specifically for women. It has its own breastfeeding room and beauty salon – and staff get a $1K bonus when they have a baby.
HiMyNameIs Video Dating App Is For Sale
OPW – Nov 27 – The video dating app HIMYNAMEIS (iTunes, Android; read: Hi my name is) is for sale. The app has been developed during 2015-2017 and soft launched in Sweden (with ~6300 registrations). The current owners have moved on to other projects and lack financial resources to establish the product on other markets. HIMYNAMEIS is based on the idea that a short video (max 10 sec), where the users are asked to just say their name, is a more realistic way to find potential partners than swiping pics. Asking price is $90k for the technical platform (backend with iOS and Android apps), documentation, app admin interface, the website (WordPress) and the brand. Currently there are no revenues. The app supports interstitial ads, but the idea is to add subscription features later. The app was developed by DBBest, an Ukraine/American company and the team is still is available if the new owners want to do adjustments and continue developing the product. The tech stack is a MySQL-database, PHP using the Symfony2-framework, hosted on AWS, and the native apps. More info here: https://www.dbbest.com/blog/himynameis-application-review/. Contact Olle on olle@himynameisapp.com if you are interested.
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
LDS Dating App Mutual Launches For Android
HERALD EXTRA – Nov 27 – Mutual, a Tinder-like smartphone app, connects singles who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cooper Boice launched the Apple iOS version of the Mutual app in April 2016, and topped 100k downloads. Boice and a small team of part-time workers ran a Kickstarter earlier this year to launch an Android version of the app. This one launched at the beginning of November, and already has 30k downloads.
How A Job Layoff Led Murugavel Janakiraman To Build A Matchmaking Company
MONEY CONTROL – Nov 27 – Matrimony Pvt Ltd runs the largest matchmaking service in India, which has 65% of its population under 35 years of age. Murugavel Janakiraman, founder & CEO of Matrimony.com, became an entrepreneur accidentally after he got laid off from his job during the 'Y2K' crisis in the year 2000. He moved back permanently to India to concentrate on his venture. Matchmaking was one of the key drivers of Internet in India in its early days which saw competitors such as Shaadi.com. The crucial factor for the company's success, Janakiraman says, was their frugal nature of doing business. "When we started, we invested just $10 per month in marketing," he says. Matrimony has raised Rs 99 crore ($15M) in two rounds over the last 17 years from investors such as Yahoo, Mayfield and Canaan Partners. Only in 2017, in a pre-IPO placement it raised $35M (Rs 225 crore) from investors such as HDFC, Goldman Sachs and Baring Private Equity. Today it has a consortium of ~300 community matrimony websites including ChristianMatrimony, MuslimMatrimony, SikhMatrimony, JainMatrimony and so on. The company's IPO in Sep was oversubscribed by 4.41 times. Matrimony.com claims to enjoy a 60% market share in the segment ahead of major competitors Shaadi.com, JeevanSaathi.com and others.
See full article at Money Control