CBC.CA – Mar 11 – Vivek Jain has had a career that's seen him bounce from Bermuda, New York and London. He's bought a football team with Motley Crue's Vince Neal, and his latest venture has seen him come up with a video dating app that he launched with comedian Norm MacDonald. MacDonald and Jain ended up meeting at a technology conference and hitting it off, followed by meeting again on a plane. The two stayed in touch, so when Jain told MacDonald about how his kids were telling him he should go out and date more, they began brainstorming ideas for dating apps. They came up with an idea for a video dating app called LOKO, that would allow people to see each other and talk before meeting.
Month: March 2019
Psychiatrist Warns ‘Gamification’ of Dating Apps Is Harmful
DAILYMAIL – Mar 9 – The 'gamification' of dating apps is damaging singleton's chances of spotting the right match for them, a psychiatrist has warned. The practice has become so addictive that more than one in 10 users swipe for over 14 hours a week, a survey has revealed. Men were found to be more promiscuous with dating apps than women, with 40% using three or more apps at a time. One in ten men admitted to using more than five dating apps at the same time. A quarter of women revealed they hadn't been on a single date in the past six months. The survey was commissioned by Alex Durrant, CEO of JigTalk, a dating app that aims to put 'personality' rather than 'looks' at the forefront of online dating.
Christians Demand Walmart Take Down Gay Dating Ad
Matchmakers Emerge as an Antidote to the Agony of Online Dating
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Mar 8 – In a 2018 Match.com survey, 55% of respondents said technology makes personal connections harder to make, and 54% felt overwhelmed by the work involved. Melissa Brown, CEO of It's Just Lunch, a matchmaking service founded in 1991, says the company has seen its fastest growth in the past couple of years among daters in their 20s and 30s. "They're sick of the swiping and the countless hours of talking to people that goes nowhere," she said. Three Day Rule, another matchmaking service, grew out of Talia Goldstein's LA apartment, where in 2013 she would host large parties in hopes of fixing up friends. Now CEO of the company, she secured funding from Match Group, and her company boasts ~700 users across 10 cities. Its services start at $5,500. Clients receive professional photo shoots, and matchmakers help them write texts to prospective dates and shop for appropriate clothes. After each date, the matchmaker will check in with both parties and give the client feedback.
by Michelle Hackman
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Tinder CEO Elie Seidman on Dating, India and Privacy
HINDUSTAN TIMES – Mar 9 – In India, Tinder competes with apps like Bumble, Truly Madly and OK Cupid. Tinder CEO Elie Seidman said markets like India, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam will be the future markets for growth, based purely on population-driven factors. Tinder launched in India 3 years ago, and is now the second grossing app on the App Store. "Indian women on Tinder super-like at a rate that is much higher than women anywhere else in the world," Seidman said.
Q: How much of the company's focus is on data privacy?
Seidman: We are compliant with the GDPR around the globe. Even though that's a European regulation. Our business model is not driven by the sale of advertising, it's driven by the sale of premium features.
Q: How do you build trust on Tinder?
A: We have a community team, which is a large team that directly monitors trust and safety. And there is a bunch of AI and machine learning that's working and helping us monitor what's happening.
Q: How critical is India for Tinder?
A: India is the biggest market for us in Asia. The vast majority of people who use Tinder currently use it for free.
Q: Do you think the freemium model of subscription is sustainable for the app economy in India, especially for Tinder?
A: We are very happy with the freemium model. I would expect that it remains the dominant way we make money.
Why Self-employed People Get More Response on Matrimonial Sites
INDIA TIMES – Mar 9 – In India, matrimonial profiles of self-employed people have traditionally been preferred by the business community. Rajasekar KS, general manager at Matrimony.com, which runs matchmaking website Bharat Matrimony, said there's been a marked increase in the preference for entrepreneurs over the last few years. "It is largely driven by the increasing success stories of entrepreneurs," he said. Gourav Rakshit, CEO of Shaadi.com, said: "Over 20% women have shown interest in entrepreneurs." Another change is that more women are now in control of their profiles, as opposed to their parents doing the monitoring.
by Anjali Venugopalan
See full article at India Times
Houston’s Alice Among Women-Led Startups Receiving Bumble Funding
XCONOMY – Mar 8 – Alice, a Houston-based digital community that connects women founders to resources tailored to their startup's needs, has received funding from the Bumble Fund. The fund, which was launched last July by Bumble, a women-oriented dating app, did not specify the amount it invested in the startups. Carolyn Rodz, Alice's founder and CEO, said in an interview that the funds will be used for software development as well as new hires. She also declined to specify Bumble's investment amount. Bumble Fund is also investing in three other startups: Gixo, a fitness app that says it turns smartphones into gyms; Translator, which makes diversity and inclusion training software for companies, schools, and nonprofits; and Promise, which makes software for criminal justice organizations to help reduce recidivism. Bumble says its venture fund makes investments ranging from $5K – to $250K in portfolio companies.
Why The Meet Group Bought Gay Dating App Growlr
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL – Mar 8 – The Meet Group acquired gay dating app Growlr for $11.8M this week. Growlr will join Meet's existing portfolio of MeetMe, Skout, Tagged and Lovoo. Meet announced the Growlr acquisition ahead of its Q4 and full year 2018 earnings call, when it saw $178.6M in total revenue, a 44% jump from 2017. Meet's been in talks with Growlr for more than a year, and Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group, said the acquisition is part of its goal to expand into different audiences it doesn't already serve. The app, which counts ~200K global daily active users, came at a good value, he added, and once Meet integrates its live video features into Growlr, he believes it will be the first gay dating app in the country to do so and growth should follow. Growlr has just two employees who will join Meet.
by Michelle Caffrey
See full article at Philadelphia Business Journal
MyLife Launches Online Dating ”Reputation Score” Profile Rating Solution to Protect Women
ACCESSWIRE – Mar 8 – MyLife.com, the reputation platform; enhancing safety, credibility, and trust for marketplaces, is now offering its Reputation Score to online dating services, allowing single women and men to do surface level background checks on one-another prior to meeting in person. MyLife's Reputation Score solution provides an access to users' public background and social information.
ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com Uses AI to Generate Endless Fake Faces
THEVERGE – Mar 8 – The ability of AI to generate fake visuals is not yet mainstream knowledge, but a new website – ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com – offers a quick and persuasive education. The site is the creation of Philip Wang, a software engineer at Uber. The algorithm behind it is trained on a huge dataset of real images, then uses a type of neural network known as a generative adversarial network (or GAN) to fabricate new examples. "Each time you refresh the site, the network will generate a new facial image from scratch," wrote Wang in a Facebook post. He added in a statement to Motherboard: "Most people do not understand how good AIs will be at synthesizing images in the future." The ability to manipulate and generate realistic imagery at scale is going to have a huge effect on how modern societies think about evidence and trust. Such software could also be extremely useful for creating political propaganda and influence campaigns.