Month: January 2018

7 More Crypto Experts Join Viola.AI Advisory Board

Posted on January 17, 2018

Violaai logoMEDIUM.COM – Jan 12 – The latest additions to Viola.AI line-up of ICO advisors are:

  • Prakash Somosundram, Serial Entrepreneur, Fintech Influencer, Singapore Government Advisor
  • Kenneth Tan, Co-Founder, FundYourselfNow and Blockchain Writer
  • Alex Haxton, Cryptocurrency Advocate and Blockchain Consultant
  • Peter Sin, Co-Founder, Singapore Bitcoin Club
  • Caleb Yap, Co-Founder, Singapore Bitcoin Club
  • Brian Condenanza, Internet Entrepreneur, ICO Advisor, Blockchain, Crypto and Bitcoin Enthusiast
  • Gautam Seshadri, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Tech Advisors

Viola.AI is a dating and relationship A.I. that generates dating and relationship content for every user based on their relationship stage.

by Christina Thung
See full article at Medium

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Grindr Is Making People Feel Unhappy, According To New Data

Posted on January 16, 2018

Grindr on a phoneGAY TIMES – Jan 15 – Time Well Spent have conducted some new research which polled 200k iPhone users about their app usage. Their main objective was to find out which apps left users feeling the most happy or unhappy. Mindfulness apps like Calm and Headspace ranked highly when it came to the apps which left users feeling most happy. Google Calendar, MyFitnessPal and Audible also placed highly on the list. However, gay dating app Grindr topped the list of apps which left users feeling unhappy. 77% of Grindr users feel miserable after using the app. Candy Crush Saga placed second with 71%, while Facebook is in the third with 64%. Time Well Spent has suggested that it's not necessarily the Grindr that is making users unhappy, but rather the amount of time they spend on it. Those who said that Grindr left them feeling unhappy admitted that they used the app for more than an hour everyday.

by Lewis Corner
See full article at Gay Times

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Summarized by the IDEA team

The Meet Group Is The Most Undervalued Dating App In The Market

Posted on January 16, 2018

Themeetgroup lovoo logosSEEKING ALPHA – Jan 15 – Meet's operating performance is impressive, especially when compared to the competition. The recent acquisition of Lovoo has given The Meet Group more exposure to Europe and should diversify the company's holdings with expertise in subscription and in-app purchases. Lovoo has a diversified revenue stream with 48% coming from subscriptions, 24% from in-app purchases, and 28% from ads. It has 47K new global registrations per day and it employs 97 people full-time between its offices in Dresden and Berlin. Given the additional reach of the combined company, it is reasonable to project revenue to grow 25% annually for the next two years. By comparison, the dating app market's growth rate has dropped from 15% to 9% from 2015 to 2017 and is expected to continue at a growth rate of 5.31% until 2021.

by Dan Sparklingeyes
See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Summarized by the IDEA team

IDEA Has A New Name, And More Purpose

Posted on January 16, 2018

Idea-weblogo-2xOPW – Jan 16 – For the last ten years I've run mixers at iDate events for small groups of the most senior owners, CXOs and leaders of dating and matchmaking apps and services. It's been fun, and has helped people open up new relationships in the industry. Now its time to do more. Yesterday we changed the name of Internet Dating Executive Alliance to Internet Dating Excellence Association. It's a small name change, but a big change of scope. In short, we want to do more to help the iDating industry learn and share and grow. I'll explain more at the Internet Dating Conference next week, and then follow up on Online Personals Watch on Feb 1st.

If you're not part of the communities yet, you can apply here and join the Facebook Group at www.IDEA.gp, or Linkedin Group at www.IDEA.gd.

Post by Mark Brooks @ IDEA team

Matrimony.com Founder Was Rejected By 10 VCs In A Row

Posted on January 15, 2018

Matrimony murugavel janakiraman 2018TIMES OF INDIA – Jan 14 – In the late 90s, Murugavel Janakiraman built a Tamil community website in the US, and to his surprise it was the matchmaking section that really took off. That sowed the idea for an online matchmaking service, Matrimony.com, which he started in 2000 in Chennai. Late last year, the company launched its IPO, but Janakiraman remembers how quite a few VCs felt his company wasn't one to tie the knot with. He was rejected by 10 VCs straight. They did not believe in his idea.

by Aparna Desikan
See full article at Times of India

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Hornet Announces LGBT Foundation & ICO

Posted on January 15, 2018

Hornet LGBT TokenHORNET BLOG – Jan 13 – Hornet, the gay social network, launches an LGBT Foundation, a not-for-profit organization for the global good of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The LGBT Foundation will conduct an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in the Q1 2018 to raise funds and allocate cryptocurrency tokens to private investors and individual participants.

See full article at Hornet Blog

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Summarized by the IDEA team

The Dating Industry Has A Lot To Gain By Engaging With Academics

Posted on January 13, 2018

Professor paul dolan cOPW – Jan 13 – Professor Paul Dolan has a special interest in happiness, and relationships. See his book, Happiness By Design. He hosted this British reality TV series on relationships which focused on couples that go through various games and tests to help them recognize if they should stay together or break up. He says that the way a couple speaks to each other is highly predictive of whether or not they will stay together. The indications of disrespect show their ugly head in the form of cynicism, criticism, defensiveness and stonewalling.

I believe the dating industry has a lot to gain by engaging with the academic community. They don't want money, they want data, interesting research and really cool findings that can be published in prestigious journals. Psychologists, sociologists and behavioral scientists want to connect with us. And we should want to put some time in with them and run experiments. It's win-win. The findings from these experiments will help us improve our services, and create more value for users. It's a marriage made in heaven, but takes an investment of time and patience.

See full post at Courtland Brooks blog

Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks

Chinese Government Might Now Get Access To Grindr’s Users Data

Posted on January 13, 2018

Grindr iconWASHINGTON POST – Jan 11 – China experts and former intelligence officials are raising concerns about user data privacy following the acquisition of Grindr by a Chinese technology firm. The Chinese government could be in a position to demand sensitive details on the lives of millions of non-Chinese citizens. More and more, the U.S. government is worried about the acquisition of American technology companies by Chinese firms, which are subject to undue influence and control by Beijing. Only last week, the U.S. government rejected a huge Chinese acquisition. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US blocked Ant Financial, the investment arm of Alibaba Group, from buying Moneygram, the second-largest financial remittance firm in the US. Congress had raised concerns that allowing a Chinese company to own all the data of Americans sending each other money represented a national security issue for the US. The Trump administration agreed and killed the deal. Grindr's VP of marketing, Peter Sloterdyk said Grindr has never disclosed any user data to the Chinese government nor does it intend to do so. Grindr remains a U.S. company governed and protected by the laws of the US, he said.

by Josh Rogin
See full article at Washington Post

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

America’s Love-hate Relationship With Tinder

Posted on January 13, 2018

RECODE – Jan 6 – Millions of Americans use social media daily. But that doesn't mean they love it. Some of the most-used social media products in the world – Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram – are also some of the ones that Americans have strong negative feelings about, according to a recent Harris Poll survey. Tinder was also largely disliked. ~43% of people want it to go away. Harris Poll
by Rani Molla
See full article at Recode

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Mrunmayee Deshpande Is New Face Of BharatMatrimony

Posted on January 13, 2018

BharatMatrimony faceTHE SIASAT DAILY – Jan 11 – BharatMatrimony has chosen Marathi actress Mrunmayee Deshpande as the face of its outdoor campaign. The 29-year-old actress met her life partner through MarathiMatrimony service from BharatMatrimony.

See full article at The Siasat Daily

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team