Month: March 2020

The Meet Group to Be Acquired by NuCom for $500m

Posted on March 5, 2020

Themetgroup logoBUSINESSWIRE – Mar 5 – The Meet Group shareholders will receive $6.30 per share in cash. The deal is expected to close in the 2nd half 2020. NuCom Group is a joint company owned by of ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic's. NuCom's portfolio, under Parship Group, currently includes Parship, Elite Partner and eharmony. The purchase price represents a 30% and 43% premium to the unaffected 30 and 60 trading day volume weighted average price.

Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group said. "This transaction will allow us to tap new strategic growth opportunities by leveraging our video platform and ProSiebenSat.1's experience with content and entertainment. What's more, with this transaction and the participation of both General Atlantic and ProSiebenSat.1, we will achieve a new level of financial scale and backing, which has the potential to further accelerate our growth."

Max Conze, CEO, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE said, "The acquisition of The Meet Group is one of ProSiebenSat.1's largest transactions. It will significantly advance our ambition to create one of the leading global players in online dating and interactive live video. We believe the combination of these two successful and complementary businesses will also create synergies within the ProSiebenSat.1 universe and accelerate the growth of our market share in the German live video apps sector."

Tim Schiffers, CEO Parship Group said: "Following a successful acquisition of eharmony, we have proven that we can manage new businesses and accelerate their growth by combining the best of both worlds."

See full article at Businesswire

Mark Brooks: The Meet Group is a wonderful fit. Great news for the industry. The dating industry is heating up again. (Full Disclosure: The Meet Group are a client of Courtland Brooks, and I own shares)

See the top news on The Meet Group 

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

Match Group’s Dating Could See Virus Hit

Posted on March 3, 2020

Match group logo blue 2019SEEKING ALPHA – Mar 3 – Match Group faces some virus impact in the near term, trimming growth estimates to 14% from a prior 16%. "Fewer people will want to go on dates" and reflects a conservative approach to the virus impact, analyst Brent Thill says.

by Jason Aycock
See full article at Seeking Alpha

See the top news on Match Group

Lunch Actually – One Stop Dating Shop

Posted on March 3, 2020

Lunch actually iconBUSINESS WORLD – Mar 2 – Lunch Actually is a dating company that started in Singapore in 2004 and matches people through lunch dates. Sixteen years in the business and Lunch Actually is already in five markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Thailand – and has arranged ~120K first dates and 4K marriages that they know of. Before starting Lunch Actually, founder Violet Lim confessed that it wasn't her childhood dream to become a matchmaker. "I did a summer internship at a law firm, and I was handling a case between this divorced couple. I remember feeling really sad that they could not even manage to communicate with each other directly. I soon realized that as much as I loved law, it was not my calling," she said. She then started working at Citibank as a management associate and was surprised that many of her eligible and attractive colleagues were single. Ms. Lim decided to combine her passion for helping others "find their lifelong happiness" and creating a successful business. Thus, Lunch Actually was born. In Singapore, being a member of Lunch Actually starts at S$2,500.

by Zsarlene B. Chua
See full article at Business World

See the top news on Lunch Actually

Czech Police Probe Online Sex Predators Exposed in Film

Posted on March 3, 2020

Caught in the netAFP – Mar 3 – Czech police said they are investigating alleged sex predators after a new documentary using adult actresses posing as 12-year-old girls on Facebook and other social media sites revealed that over 2,000 men had expressed interest. Nine people were suspected of "attempting to establish illegal contacts with a child, facing up to two years in prison" after the filmmakers offered the material to the police. "Don't you mind that I'm 12?" each of the girls asks predators who offer pictures of their genitals or masturbate on camera in the "Caught In The Net" documentary which sparked a nationwide debate on child abuse on the Internet. The film is being screened in two versions across the Czech Republic, one for children and one for viewers above the age of 15.

See full article at Times of Malta

The League App Rolls out Nationwide

Posted on March 3, 2020

The league iconPR NEWSWIRE – Mar 4 – The League is opening its doors to the rest of the U.S.' metro areas including Baton Rouge, LA, Knoxville, TN, Columbia, SC, Charlottesville, VA, and Roanoke, VA. Launched in 2015 and modeled after private members­-only clubs like Soho House, The League is known for its selective admissions-based model and high­-achieving community of users.

See full article at PR Newswire

See the top news on The League

How Justin McLeod Made Millions From Dating

Posted on March 3, 2020

Hinge pic1YAHOO FINANCE – Mar 4 – McLeod is the CEO and founder of Hinge, which launched in 2012, after the then-college business student found himself single, and wanting to meet a new partner. "The idea originated back in 2011 when I tried to reach out to my college girlfriend and get her back, and she said no," said McLeod. "I looked at the options at the time, and nothing really appealed to me." In 2012, he launched Hinge for the first time – which he admits didn't garner a lot of traction. Hinge finished its first year with just a few thousand users and $32K in bank, leading him to make some changes. "What became really clear to me was that people were missing something that was accessible to people my age, but also something that was more serious," he said. He rebooted Hinge and started from scratch. He let go of half the team, threw out the code base and threw out the user-base. Hinge is now $7 per month, and requires users to go through a lengthy vetting process at signup to ensure they're matched with the best possible partner. The app generated $5.2M in worldwide revenue in 2018, and was downloaded 5.5M times globally according to Sensor Tower.

by Anastasia Santoreneos
See full article at Yahoo Finance

See the top news on Hinge

The Top Dating Industry News for Mar 3rd

Posted on March 3, 2020

Opw tmtOPW – Mar 3 – Live.me, Tinder's Swipe Night, ODA, IDEA SUMMIT.

For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker Breaker, Google Podcasts Google Podcasts, Spotify Spotify, Anchor Anchor , Overcast Overcast, Radio Public Radio Public or Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts. Listen to the trailer for the channel.

App Makers Cash in as Southeast Asia Falls for Mobile Dating

Posted on March 2, 2020

How much south asians spent on appsNIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW – Mar 1 – Indonesians spent $5.8M on mobile dating apps last year, compared to $1.6M in 2017, a 260% increase, according to App Annie. Singapore singles accounted for the biggest spend of any Southeast Asian country, shelling out $7.1M last year, up from $3.9M in 2017, which App Annie attributed to the country's higher per capita income. Match Group said it has made dating products in Asia a priority, appointing a general manager for South Korea and Southeast Asia last year as well as setting up offices in Japan and Indonesia.

by Dylan Loh
See full article at Nikkei Asian Review

See the top news on Match Group

WooPlus: a Dating App for Curvy People

Posted on March 2, 2020

Wooplus logo 2020FEMALE FIRST – Mar 1 – Neil Raman, founder and CEO of WooPlus, created a dating app for curvy people after he saw his sister struggling on dating apps. The app launched in 2015 and now has ~3.5M users.

See full article at Female First

See the top news on WooPlus

Dating Apps in China Are Extremely Popular Due to Shy Culture

Posted on March 2, 2020

Tantan wang yuCGTN – Mar 1 – Wang Yu is CEO of one of China's largest dating apps – Tantan. Due to China having a shy culture, he says, his dating app has been hugely successful in providing an alternative channel through which people can meet. Traditionally in China it's the parents and grandparents of young singles who find their offspring suitable partners, especially if they are unmarried and approaching 30. He also reveals how the company has denied ~100M registration attempts due to the staff being unable to verify if the person creating the profile is who they claim to be. Watch the full video interview here.

See full article at CGTN

See the top news on Tantan