WEBPRONEWS – Nov 8 – Tinder Co-Founder Sean Rad, in an interview on stage at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, said that he thinks that as the technology of AI advances that Siri might become a matchmaker soon.
Month: November 2018
Badoo Is Facing An Investigation By HMRC Over Its Corporate Tax Bill
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Nov 7 – Badoo, part of the matchmaking empire controlled by Russian tycoon Andrey Andreev, is under investigation for its tax payments for the years 2013 to 2016. The news comes as Mr Andreev, 44, whose fortune has been estimated at over £1B, talks up plans to take the company public in a New York listing which could value it at several billion dollars. Badoo is structured with more than a dozen subsidiaries as well as other investments. Its parent company is listed as World Vision, a company incorporated in Bermuda, which in turn is controlled by Rimburg International, a company domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. A separate entity, Badoo Limited, also said it was under investigation. The company reported turnover of £144M for the year ending December 2017, up from £107M in the previous 12 months, for a reported loss of £5.6M. Badoo said the loss was "primarily due to the marketing focus of the business".
The Meet Group Q3 Financial Results
PRESS RELEASE – Nov 7 – Total revenue was $45.7M, up 42% YOY. Net income was ~$1.3M, compared to $2.2M last year. "We continue to grow video revenue across all of our apps," said CEO Geoff Cook. "In one year, we have increased the annualized video revenue run rate from virtually zero to $55M for the month of October. Traffic in the quarter was also strong. We grew mobile daily active users 3% sequentially to 4.3M and mobile monthly active users 7% sequentially to 14.6M."
See full article at The Meet Group website
LA Clippers Push Women’s Empowerment With Bumble Deal
CNN – Nov 7 – In the era of #MeToo dating app Bumble has teamed up with a high-profile sports team to "shake up" a predominantly male-driven industry. The Los Angeles Clippers signed a reported three-year $20M sponsorship deal with Bumble. The partnership launched with a #strongerwithher campaign at a Clippers game – encouraging fans to honor women who impact their lives. The deal places the dating app's logo as a patch on the Clippers' uniform.
Romanian Dating Site Sentimente.ro Is Using AI
Tinder Now Has 4.1M Paying Users, Expects $800M In Revenue This Year
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 7 – Match Group surpassed analyst's forecasted revenue of $437M, reporting Q3 revenue of $444M, a 29% increase YOY. Match says it expects to bring in a total of $1.72B in annual revenue. Despite positive earnings, the company's 4Q outlook failed to satisfy Wall Street. Match said it expects $440 – $450M in revenue in Q4, falling short of the $454.5M analyst estimate. Shares of Match sank 10% in after-hours trading as a result. Year-to-date, Match's stock is up ~60%. Tinder continues to be Match's growth engine, responsible for half its paid users and half its projected annual revenue. Tinder is expected to bring in $800M in revenue in 2018. Hinge, another app-based dating service acquired by Match in June, is on its way up. Match says it's seen a 5x increase in downloads since it first invested. Match also announced that it would, for the first time, issue a special cash dividend of $2 per share on Match Group common stock and Class B common stock, to be paid out on Dec. 19.
by Kate Clark
See full article at Tech Crunch
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Dating Apps In The Cancer World
CURE TODAY – Nov 7 – Being single often includes dating, but that is an uncomfortable and often taboo topic for people affected by cancer. "Some of the most frustrating things that cancer patients deal with, when it comes to dating, are struggling with body image and self-esteem," says Sarah Paul, LCSW, manager of the child, adolescent and young adult program at CancerCare, a national organization dedicated to providing free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer. When Laura Brashier received a diagnosis of stage 4 cervical cancer at age 37, her life came screeching to a halt. Later she launched RomanceOnly.com in 2011. With the tagline "intimacy…without intercourse," the website now connects 14k users. In February 2005, Darryl Mitteldorf started CancerMatch.com which has since grown to serve ~1.3M members. RomanceOnly charges $9.99 per month; CancerMatch is sustained by donations made to MaleCare.org.
by Stacy Willingham
See full article at Cure Today
Charly Lester, Co-Founder Of Lumen, Shares Her Story
FORBES – Nov 7 – Charly Lester is the Co-Founder and CMO of Lumen, the dating app for over 50s. Fresh from raising £3.5M from Andrey Andreev, the Founder of Badoo, Charly shares her story and motivation to make 50 the new 30. "Lumen was my co-founder's (Antoine Argouges) idea – but the minute he told me about it I knew it needed to be done, because for the last 5 years people had been asking me which app their divorced parents should try, and I had never had an answer for them. Women in their 50s and 60s have long complained about issues where men their age ignore them on dating apps, and only look for younger women. Men on Lumen are interested in dating women their age." Over 50s are too often the target of scammers and catfish online, so Lumen is the first mainstream dating app to insist on 100% photo-verification. Every user takes a selfie of him or herself on registration, and this is cross-referenced with the photos on their dating profile. The artificial intelligence also moderates for age. The app is already seeing ~1K downloads every day in the UK, and will be launching internationally very soon.
Match Group Q3 Results: Revenue Up 29%
MATCH GROUP – Nov 7 – Total Revenue grew 29% YOY to $444M, driven by 23% subscriber growth and 6% ARPU growth. Average subscribers increased to 8.1M, a 23% YOY increase. Operating income was $140M, up 54% YOY, while Adjusted EBITDA increased 38% to $165M.
Web Summit Insanity
OPW – Nov 7 –
I'm at Web Summit this week. This conference is just incredibly massive. And yet, we only have two representatives from the dating industry speaking. Sean Rad, Founder of Tinder, and the CEO of eHarmony, Grant Langston. They're both speaking twice on Wednesday.
It would be nice to have a couple more speakers from the dating industry speaking at Web Summit. We're well represented with these CEOs of course, but are we under-represented? Just sayin'. Please comment.
Post by Mark Brooks, CEO IDEA