PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 12 – Q4 2018 net revenues increased 50% YOY to $559M. Net income increased slightly YOY to $96M. Monthly Active Users ("MAU") on Momo app were 113.3M in Dec 2018, compared to 99M in Dec 2017. Total paying users, including 3.9M paying users of Tantan were 13M, compared to 7.8M in Q4 2017. Live video service revenues were $430M in the Q4 2018, up 36% YOY. Annual revenues increased 51% YOY to $1,950M. Net income was $409.5M, up from $320M.
Month: March 2019
Gay Dating App Growlr is Now Owned by Straight People
OUT.COM – Mar 12 – After being founded in 2010 by Coley Cummiskey and becoming a "by bears, for bears" social media app, Growlr is now part of The Meet Group. Its new owners already have big plans for the platform, namely introducing livestreaming by the end of the year. The Meet Group plans to invest in marketing and grow the team (it had before just been Cummiskey and his husband Frank Rollins). Growlr is The Meet Group's fourth purchase in three years. Cummiskey and his husband will stay on with Growlr for at least a year, as per their contracts.
by Mikelle Street
See full article at Out.com
Aussie Sexual Health Firm Ads Blocked on Tinder
STUFF.CO.NZ – Mar 12 – James Sneddon wants to boost awareness of his Australian startup Stigma Health, but a sales representative of Tinder told him that there was little chance the startup would be able to advertise on the app because "we won't run anything that involves sexual behaviour". Stigma Health lets patients book referrals for pathology centres online so they can undergo sexual health tests and have their results messaged directly to them without the need for face-to-face interactions or phone calls. The business has just started generating revenue in the tens of thousands of dollars, but Sneddon says there's an opportunity to scale significantly in the next two years. The trouble has been developing a digital advertising strategy. Nine of the company's ads have been removed from Facebook for failing to meet advertising standards.
Refrigerdating: When the Fridge Plays Matchmaker
NEW YORK TIMES – Mar 12 – The first time John Stonehill was invited back to his girlfriend's house, he headed straight for the refrigerator. "I came away knowing a great deal about her," Mr. Stonehill said. "Refrigerators are filled with clues about the people who own them." That idea gave rise to what he calls "refrigerdating." He helped Samsung come up with a Refrigerdating app to prove we are what we eat. The app works with Samsung's Family Hub refrigerator, which sells for ~$3K and has a screen in the door that can show you the contents of your fridge. The idea is that you can look at your phone while you're at the store to find out if you're out of milk. But the dating app lets you see the inside of someone else's fridge. Gleaning information from what we eat may be an unusual way to meet a mate, but does it reveal who we really are? A study in the journal Appetite found, for example, that risk takers tend to like spicy food. And researchers from North Dakota State University reported that people with a sweet tooth tend to have sweet personalities.
by Michele C. Hollow
See full article at New York Times
SeekingArrangement’s Report: Universities With the Most Sugar Babies
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OX11 – Mar 12 – SeekingArrangement, the world's largest "sugar daddy" dating site, lists the "Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools." The company states that ~2.5M of the 20M members on the site are American college students. The report states that student loan debt in the US has quadrupled from 2004 to 2017. Additionally, the average yearly cost of tuition and fees at a public, four-year institution has more than doubled since 2001 to $9,510, according to the College Board.
Top 3 fastest growing sugar baby schools:
- Georgia State University (306 new sugar baby sign-ups in 2018, 1304 student members in 2018)
- University of Central Florida (296 new sugar baby sign-ups in 2018, 1068 student members in 2018)
- University of Alabama (270 new sugar baby sign-ups in 2018, 968 student members in 2018)
by Mary Stringini
See full article at Fox11
Indian Dating App Woo Launches Woo Phone Feature to Empower Women
OPW – Mar 11 – Woo Phone allows women to call their matched profiles from within the dating app without revealing their phone numbers. This feature is exclusively available to women.
Dating App McCoy Launches at SXSW in Austin
PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 11 – McCoy is a new dating app that allows singles to match then instantly meet up, offering a wide range of curated dates as in-app purchases. Founders Jake Banks & Muneeb Bokhari want to move singles away from the screens into real-life dates. McCoy offers deals on everything from concert tickets to dinner dates. "Launching at SXSW's Startup Spotlight, the feedback has been phenomenal," says Banks. The app is now live in LA, Austin and New York.
Dating App Hily Officially Launches in the UK
PRESS RELEASE – Mar 11 – Hily, the US dating app that stands for "Hey, I Like You", is launching in the UK this week. Hily provides a high level of safety and security through profile verification. The unique feature of the app is the usage of AI. Hily analyses users' likes, matches, and dialogues to create a personalized set of potential partners.
Deep Learning-Powered ‘Fake Faces’ Will Transform Catfishing
FORBES – Mar 11 – Catfishing and the use of false profiles to scam and extort people online has become an unfortunate fact of our modern digital life. Deep learning now allows the creation of entirely artificial faces and voices. It is possible to create fake faces reflecting any demographic background and age. While the photos still contains tell-tale imperfections that give it away to the trained eye, the average person is unlikely to see if the image is fake, especially when viewed on the small screen of a mobile device while on the go.
Dating App “Bare” Lets Users Share Nude Pics but Asks for ID First
DAILYSTAR.CO.UK – Mar 11 – A new dating app on which users can choose to share naked pictures of themselves is set to launch in the UK. The dating app's owners said giving people the choice to bare all could give it an edge over Tinder and Bumble. But users will not be able to immediately share nude snaps with each other – which BARE's founders say will ease users' fears of receiving unsolicited photos. Members would need to provide ID before using the app. Bare is set to launch this summer.