Month: January 2020
The League to Launch in Singapore
E27.CO – Jan 30 – San Francisco-based dating app, The League, is set for an official launch in Singapore on February 2. Prior to this launch, The League has already been available in 59 cities in the US. Founded in 2014, the dating app was created to connect high-achieving individuals with one another, using a selective admissions-based model.
MagicLab Told to Implement Workplace Reforms After Sexism Allegations
FORTUNE – Jan 30 – MagicLab, the parent company of Bumble and Badoo, should reform its workplace policies following allegations of sexual harassment, a U.K. law firm has found. MagicLab hired Doyle Clayton, a British firm specializing in employment law, to investigate allegations of a misogynistic and hostile work environment for women raised in a July Forbes story. In its statement, Doyle Clayton said there was "a lack of credible evidence in relation to most" of 24 specific allegations Forbes raised in its story, including "the more serious ones." It did, however, find there was evidence to support three allegations, which it described as "minor".
POF Study: 1 in 5 Singles Wish Valentine’s Day Was Canceled
PR NEWSWIRE – Jan 29 – The Pressures of Valentine's Day & Dating study from Plenty of Fish reveals that 43% of singles consider Valentine's Day to be the most pressure-filled holiday, with 1 in 5 wishing the holiday was canceled altogether. The pressure tied to Valentine's Day is stronger among younger singles, with 60% of Gen Z and 52% of Millennials feeling the heat.
Annual Dating Domains Sale
OPW – Jan 30 – Do you have dating domains to sell? Let me know the domains, and set them up to sell on Flippa, or similar, and we'll list them for free for you on OPW.news and via our channel on GDI.news. We'll run a list of the domains. They must be aggressively priced for quick sale (by Valentines day) to make the cut. Ideally, please list them as no-reserve auctions, if you're feeling lucky. Please email tips@onlinepersonalswatch.com.
In the meantime, here's a goodie. Singl.es is for sale here without reserve and will conclude 5:30pm EST today!
Former eHarmony CEO Grant Langston Joins Innovative Startup Warehouse Exchange
PR NEWSWIRE – Jan 28 – With nearly two decades at eHarmony, Langston joins The Warehouse Exchange as its CEO and a member of its Board. "When approached to lead the team at Warehouse Exchange, I found the similarities between the eHarmony business model and Warehouse Exchange striking," Langston said. Warehouse Exchange is the digital marketplace for businesses needing short-term incremental commercial warehouse space.
Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg Steps Down
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Jan 28 – Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg (50) is stepping down. President Shar Dubey will be CEO starting March 1. Mandy served at Match Group for 14 years and was CEO since 2017. Match's stock quadrupled during her tenure.
"When I started in 2006, we were just launching the second brand at Match and only 3% of relationships were from dating apps (that number is a whopping 50% today in North America and Western Europe and growing every day across the globe!)."
In October, a tornado left her Dallas home unlivable, and she also has experienced what she called "health hiccups." She opted for a preventive double mastectomy due to high risk of breast cancer. The implants she received are linked to cancer, and so last Friday she underwent another surgery due to a recall of the implants. "I need to take care of myself and so will take some time off this year to do just that."
OPW Podcast – The Top Dating Industry News for Jan 28th
OPW – Jan 28 – Match Group's new safety features, Grindr's new potential owner, Grant moves on, IDEA SUMMIT.
For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker , Google Podcasts
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Q&A With S’More CEO and Founder Adam Cohen-Aslatei
ALLEYWATCH – Jan 27 – S'More dating app is trying to make online dating less superficial. The app is prioritizing conversation over appearances. The profile photos of two matched individuals are progressively unblurred based on the engagement in conversation.
Q: Tell us about what Something More offers.
A: S'More (a.k.a. Something More) provides daters with a totally interactive way of getting to learn more about a person before evaluating them on the basis of appearance. While most dating apps focus on an image first, S'More focuses on the whole person.
Q: What market does S'More target and how big is it?
A: S'More is designed to transition Millenials from casual dating apps into relationships. There are 24M millennials in the US that have used dating apps and are still single. That's our primary target.
Q: What is the business model?
A: S'More is a free app that also offers a subscription service to unlocks additional premium features.
Q: What inspired the start of S'More?
A: After spending over 10 years in the dating and ad tech space, I felt like there had not been a major innovation since Tinder invented the swipe.
Q: What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
A: We plan to launch out of beta by the end of the year. We will launch S'More by city starting in Boston and Washington DC.
Q: What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
A: No one ever told me just how important it is to step back from time to time to refocus on the "big picture." It's important to prioritize and invest your time where it will have the biggest impact.
Fraudsters Used Grindr to Spoof Ads on Roku Apps and Devices
BUZZFEEDNEWS – Jan 27 – In just the past three weeks, Grindr has been slammed by the Norwegian Consumer Council for exposing users' personal information, suspended from Twitter's ad network as a result of that investigation, and alleged to have been the way a Michigan hairstylist met the man who brutally murdered him. Adding to those concerns is new research showing that Grindr's Android app was exploited by ad fraudsters in a scheme that stole money from advertisers. Amin Bandeali, CTO of Pixalate, the Palo Alto ad fraud detection firm that identified the scam, said Grindr was likely targeted because of its large user base. Here's how the scam worked: A normal banner ad was bought on Grindr's Android app. The fraudsters then attached code that disguised the Grindr banner ad to look like a Roku video ad slot. This fake ad space was sold on programmatic advertising exchanges, the online marketplaces where digital ads are bought and sold. So cheap banner ads were used to resell more expensive video ads.