TELEGRAPH INDIA – As You Are is helping the online dating scene in India become more inclusive and queer-friendly. The app was launched by Sunali Aggarwal. "I had always observed this problem with the community where people could not find each other mostly because everybody was closeted. Even with the decriminalisation of Section 377 in 2018, the problem persisted. And that is what triggered this idea of creating a space that is safe for the community to interact with each other," recollects Sunali. As You Are was successfully launched in 2020 and currently boasts 25K downloads and 2K active users. A key differentiator between As You Are and other apps was our process of verification, where people submitted their selfies with some basic information and were manually verified.
Month: March 2022
BlueCity CEO Baoli Ma Named in the Debut Edition of the Gaingels 100
PR NEWSWIRE – Baoli Ma, the founder, chairman, and CEO of BlueCity, a world-leading LGBTQ platform, has been named in the premiere edition of the Gaingels 100, an inspiring collection of LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs from around the world. He is the only mainland Chinese entrepreneur to be selected by Gaingels.
HelloTiger Is a New “Cat-Fish” Proofed Dating App
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – Launched across Australia this week, HelloTiger is described as being 'cat-fish' proof because would-be couples are forced to talk over facetime for 60s before they can decide if they want to hear from each other again. The company's founder Chris Dutton says the app helps people 'cut to the chase' and takes the games and hesitation out of online dating. Users are expected to upload a new photo every week – and it can't be selected from their camera roll – it has to be taken on the spot.
Dating News Headlines: Tinder, Bumble
Quick links to today's dating news headlines.
- Tinder Adds Background Checks to Its Dating App – Wall Street Journal
- Bumble Stock Rockets Higher After Online-dating Company Upbeat on User Growth – MarketWatch
- Dating App Bumble Unveils New Campaign With Bhumi Pednekar – Exchange4Media
Dating News Headlines: Bumble
Quick links to today's dating news headlines.
- Bumble Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results – Bumble website
Courtney Kovacevich – an Overview of The Women In Dating Initiative
OPW – Courtney presents the vision and purpose of Women in Dating and provides a roundup of 2021 initiatives, along with what’s in store for 2022. Courtney founded Women In Dating, an initiative sponsored and supported by RealMe. Women in Dating is for women, including trans women and people of marginalized genders wishing to access a women-centered community. The mission is to work together to provide thought leadership and guidance to women in the industry, create a space where women can learn and inspire one another, guide and shape the direction of the industry, and drive meaningful change toward a diverse and inclusive dating industry.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
The January LTR was kindly sponsored by RealMe, vPaaS by Meet Group, FaceTec, OneRep, and Courtland Brooks
Dating News Headlines: BlueCity, Grindr, As You Are, Ziinkle
Quick links to today's dating news headlines.
- BlueCity CEO Baoli Ma Named in the Debut Edition of the Gaingels 100 – PR Newswire
- Albums Unlocked: Introducing a New Way to Share and Unshare Private Content – Grindr blog
- Meet the Woman Behind India's First LGBTQIA+ Dating App – Telegraph India
- Has Online Dating Gone Too Far? New App Chooses Your Matches for You, Makes You Upload a Fresh Selfie Each Week and Asks You to Video Chat for 60 Seconds After Matching – Daily Mail
- Ziinkle: Meet the Two Aussie Women Redefining Dating Apps – Gizmondo
Women In Dating Launches Superheroes Campaign
Superheroes is a Women In Dating campaign to recognize and celebrate the superheroes among us, those women transforming lives through their daily contributions and betterment to our industry. Each month, the Women In Dating council will honor a woman superhero who we are better for having part of our lives and industry. Historically, women invest more in female founders, hire more women, and have a greater return for investors. We need female superheroes to build equity in industries and work environments.
Some statistics for female founders:
- Female founders raised just 2% of venture capital in 2021
- 2021 was a record year for fundraising with $330B, nearly doubling the previous record in 2020.
- Women-led companies saw $6.4B of this $330B, which is +83% higher than 2020 but still disproportionately lower than the total funding for the year.
- Massive growth for female fundraising came from female angel investors, which grew after the #MeToo movement.
- Women-led companies deliver higher revenue with more than twice as much per dollar invested.
Online Dating Association’s Industry Update
ODA – Here is an overview of what the ODA has been up to in the last quarter, and a briefing on recent Public Relations and Government Affairs activities.
ODA Update
- ODA to attend New York GDI conference
- ODA webinar on April 26th
Public Relations Update
- With the release of the Tinder Swindler the media focus is on romance fraud. The ODA intends to keep working with partners to educate the public on romance fraud.
Policy and Advocacy Update
- The ODA has joined TechUK, the trade association for the wider technology sector in the UK.
Online Safety Legislation
- If you would like to read more about the Online Safety Bill in the UK, TechUK has done an excellent synopsis of the Joint Committee report in December.
- The Digital Services Act (DSA) was passed by the European Parliament. A good overview of both the DSA and DMA (Digital Markets Act) can be found here.
- In the USA, two senators introduced KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act.
- Another online safety bill, the EARN IT Act, was passed. It will amend Section 230 to allow lawsuits against internet companies that advertise, promote, present, distribute or solicit material depicting the sexual abuse of children.
Pro-Competition in Digital Markets
- The ODA has joined CAF, the Coalition for App Fairness, which advocates for fair competition in digital markets and for all developers.
- In Europe, the Digital Markets Act is in trilogue, and is likely to be finalised this year.
- In the USA, there are two major bills in the Senate
- Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act
Data Protection & Privacy
- In the UK, the government is reviewing GDPR
- The European Commission rolled out the EU Data Act , a new proposal regulating the extent tech platforms can use or share consumer data.
- In the USA, is it likely at some point the Federal Government will need to pass a data protection Bill
Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence
- The UK Government has announced its Cyber Strategy for 2022, which includes funding for the National Cyber Security Programme.
- In the EU, a joint committee of IMCO and LIBE launched Parliament's work on the AI Act which looks to assess and label potential risks posed by aspects of AI tech.
- In the USA, Democrats are looking for stronger legislation to empower the FTC to mandate transparency of AI algorithms, with the Algorithmic Accountability Act.
Dating News Headlines: Tinder, OkCupid
Quick links to today's dating news headlines.