Month: August 2021

London-based Bare Dating Snaps up €456K in Seedrs Crowdfunding Campaign

Posted on August 31, 2021

Bare dating logo 2021EU STARTUPS – Aug 31 – A new dating app Bare has just completed a successful Seedrs campaign, crowdfunding €456K.The app describes itself as providing a safe space with true liberation from judgement that advocates for honesty, whilst experimenting with their romantic and sexual selves. Alex Sergent, CEO and Co-founder of Bare, said: "The Seedrs campaign has proven to us that we are giving the dating industry what it wants." With a voice note feature on matches, a sliding blur bar on photographs, and a community of openness, Bare is unique in its approach. It also offers ID verification on sign up to reduce 'catfishing'.

by Charlotte Tucker
See full article at EU Startups

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Consumers Spent $40B on App Store in H1 2021

Posted on August 31, 2021

Apple App Store9TO5MAC – Aug 31 – A new study by Finbold reveals that consumers globally spent $41.5B (up 22% YOY) on the Apple App Store in the H1of 2021, which is almost double that of the Google Play Store. Cumulatively, spending on the two platforms recorded a growth of 24.8%, YOY hitting a total of $64.9B.

by José Adorno
See full article at 9To5Mac

The Future of Dating Is Hybrid

Posted on August 31, 2021

Hybrid datingAXIOS – Aug 30 – Dating is expensive, and many people are deciding they'd rather meet virtually first in case it doesn't work out. The average American spends ~$700 annually on dates, according to a 2019 LendingTree study. "But the pandemic was a jolt to our systems," says Logan Ury, a behavioral scientist and the director of relationship science at Hinge. "Video chat was normalized, and it's only natural that it would extend to dating, because dates can be really costly and time-consuming." At the beginning of the pandemic, almost no Hinge users had been on a virtual date, per a survey conducted by the dating app. Now, close to half of them (44%) have been on a video date, and 65% of those people say they'll incorporate virtual dating into their routines even when it is safe to meet in person.

by Erica Padney
See full article at Yahoo News

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HiHi – a New Dating App in India

Posted on August 30, 2021

HiHi logo 2021YOUR STORY – Aug 28 – According to Statista, dating apps are projected to be used by 4.3% of India's population by 2025 – up from 3% in 2021. And riding this wave is Bengaluru-based Jitesh Bisht, who launched HiHi App, a dating app, in June 2020. HiHi currently has ~100K downloads, according to data available on the Google PlayStore. After giving users free access for the first six months, Hihi's makers decided to put some features behind a paywall. While earlier users could swipe as many profiles as they wanted, now there is a limit of 15 free profiles a day. The app also has a video calling feature. There are between 30K and 40K monthly active users on the app, out of which Jitesh aims to convert 5-10% into paid subscribers.

by Prasannata Patwa
See full article at Your Story

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90% of Gen Z Now Using Apps With Interactive Live Video

Posted on August 30, 2021

Agora study graphVENTURE BEAT – 90% of Gen Z is now using apps with interactive live video according to a new study by Agora, which polled 1K Gen Z U.S. consumers on their use of "real-time engagement" – commonly referred to as RTE – technology over the last year. RTE refers to digital experiences that are interactive, collaborative and shared, through live video, live audio and extended reality (AR or VR).

See full article at Venture Beat

Dating Apps Are Turning to Video and Audio to Link People up

Posted on August 30, 2021

Bumble night inCNBC – Aug 28 – The pandemic has caused a level of disruption that's allowed companies to consider what the future of dating apps without mindless swiping might look like. Bumble's "Night In" trivia feature lets users set up a virtual trivia date if they match with someone. It also allows users to send voice memos. Tinder has "Swipe Night," a live, interactive dating feature where singles follow a storyline together. The addition of videos and audio will let people interact in a way that hasn't been done yet with online dating, with the hopes they'll spend more time on the apps. 40% of Tinder users plan to continue using video even when the pandemic is over. Earlier this summer, Match Group closed its $1.7B acquisition of Hyperconnect, a social networking company. That will allow the company to focus on its research & development, adding more live chat features and video experiences to its apps. Match COO Gary Swidler said Match Group expects at least two of its brands to use Hyperconnect tech before the end of the year, while a number of other brands will implement its tech by the end of 2022.

by Jessica Bursztynsky
See full article at CNBC

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Zoosk Monetizes Emails With Advertising

Posted on August 28, 2021

Zoosk logoMEDIA POST – Aug 26 – Zoosk, a global dating app for a slightly older demographic, generates 4 to 5M email opens per day messages informing users that they got a message, sharing the daily match and performing other tasks. It had been monetizing these emails with advertising, working with LiveIntent and using its LiveTags technology. Ads now contribute ~2% of all revenue, with email contributing a smaller amount. Overall, Zoosk has had ~20M people registered over the years, several hundred thousand of whom may log in on a given day.

by Ray Schultz
See full article at Media Post

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An AI Soulmate Recommender System Based Only on Images

Posted on August 28, 2021

FacesUNITE.AI – Aug 27 – Researchers from the UK have developed an entirely image-based recommender system for online dating matches which only takes into account whether or not two users are attracted to each other's photos, and have found that it outperforms less 'shallow' systems in terms of obtaining an accurate match. The system is called Temporal Image-Based Reciprocal Recommender (TIRR), and uses Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) to interpret a user's historical predilection for faces that he or she encounters while browsing for potential matches. The paper is entitled Photos Are All You Need for Reciprocal Recommendation in Online Dating, and comes from two researchers at the University of Bristol, improving notably upon a similar system (called ImRec) released by the same team in 2020.

by Martin Anderson
See full article at Unite.ai

GDI London Conference – Early Bird Prices

Posted on August 27, 2021

Calendar of eventsOPW – Aug 27 – The GDI in-real-life dating industry conference is back after 18 months. The conference is on Thu 23rd September. Speakers will be announced shortly, and you can get your early-bird ticket for GBP199 on Eventbrite here. There's also a networking session the night before, so fly in early.

Hello Group Q2 Results for the Second Quarter of 2021

Posted on August 27, 2021

Momo TantanPR NEWSWIRE – Aug 26 – Hello Group (former Momo), a mobile social and entertainment platform in China, announced its Q2 financial results. Net revenues decreased by 5.1% YOY to $569M. Net income increased to $71.9M. Monthly Active Users were 115.6M in June 2021, compared to 111.5M in June 2020. Total paying users of live video service and value-added service, including 3.1M paying users of Tantan, were 12.4M, compared to 12.8M in Q2 2020.

See full article at PR Newswire

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