SEEKING ALPHA – Match Group's stock should warrant the attention of growth-oriented investors. The company's financial performance continues to be robust, and we believe that APAC will fuel the company's growth for the foreseeable future. Year-to-date, the company's stock has significantly underperformed the S&P 500 with a YTD return of -63.49% in contrast to the index's decline of -23.62%. Currently, the company's market capitalization stands at $13.6B. For paid users, APAC (and Other) segment had only 3.6M paid users, compared to 8.2M users in Americas and 4.6M users in Europe.
Month: October 2022
Matrimony.com Launches Platform to Serve IT Professionals
THEPRINT – Matchmaking service provider Matrimony.com has launched an exclusive marriage service, techiematrimony.com, to serve information technology and software professionals. Currently, ~500K software professionals are actively looking for a life partner on the Matrimony.com matchmaking services which include BharatMatrimony with 30% of them being women employed as software programmers, project managers, and animators, among others.
Seeking.com Rebranded as an Elite Dating App
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – Seeking describes itself as a place for 'successful and attractive' people to find a partner who 'meets their standards'. While Seeking is free to sign up to, it comes with a steep price if users want to message someone, costing as low as $100 a month and as high as $275. The website was first launched in 2006 by Brandon Wade, and it was originally started as a way for women to meet sugar daddies. It then underwent a rebranding to focus more on finding long term relationships, and it now has ~40M subscribers. Seeking does not have any requirements and anyone can join, unlike other exclusive dating apps like Raya, The League, and Lox Club, which require members to be invited or have strict applicant screening processes.
New ‘Pig Butcher’ Scam Has Experts Worried
NEWS.COM.AU – A new scam is starting to appear. The aptly-named "pig butchery" scam has sparked a warning from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and sees predators develop personal, even romantic, relationships with their victims to later trick them to invest in crypto. The scammers create a fake Crypto website and make it look like victims are earning a ton of money by investing into this website. Losses of over $200K were not uncommon as a result.
Betterhalf.ai Records $2M Revenue in FY22 With 50% Quarterly Growth
APN NEWS – Being India's first AI-driven app, Betterhalf.ai records 75K new users every month and predicts to generate $3M revenue by the end of FY23. The app has recorded $2M annualized revenue in FY22 with 50% quarterly growth. Apart from the record high revenue growth, the app has also grown its team by 250%, adding 75 full-time employees in 6 months.
Bumble Is Bringing ‘Ted Lasso’ Dating App Bantr to Life
4 in 10 Singles in Singapore Have Never Dated
TODAY ONLINE – Four out of 10 single respondents in the 2021 Marriage and Parenthood survey had never dated before. But the proportion of people willing to find potential partners through online dating has doubled since 10 years ago. The 2021 Marriage and Parenthood Survey, which polled 5,800 Singapore residents aged 21 to 45, also found that a limited social circle or lack of opportunities were among the top reasons given by respondents for them not dating.
Interview With Jamie Wykes-Hobday, Founder of FITFCK
OPW INTERVIEW – Last week, the fitness dating app FITFCK announced an investment at $3M valuation from OnlyFans founder, Timothy Stokely. We have reached out to Jamie to learn more about his app and the investment.
What made you start FITFCK?
FITFCK was created when my girlfriend broke up with me just weeks before my first bodybuilding show due to my excessive training commitments and lifestyle. So you could say that the motivation comes from the fact that the founder is an actual case study of the problem we are looking to solve!
How is FITFCK better than other dating apps?
FITFCK offers a niche for gym lovers to connect through their common love for fitness, which they would not be able to do on mass market dating apps. We are also focused on building a multi level consumer brand, not just a dating app.
How did you meet the Founder of OnlyFans?
Through an Instagram DM!
What will you do with the money to grow FitFck?
We will be using the money to build our audience and complete our app build which is releasing in November.
How does the OnlyFans founder view the investment, FitFck and the dating space in general?
Here is his quote: !I am delighted to have had the opportunity to invest in FITFCK" says Timothy Stokely. "Having known Jamie for over 3 years now, his vision, drive and determination coupled with the brand concept is something that I fully believe in and I am looking forward to seeing it realise its global potential as a multi level consumer brand."
How are you planning on building your audience? i.e. influencers?
Social media marketing across a number of platforms, including influencers.
Highest Earning and Most Downloaded Apps in September
DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD – Tinder is the highest earning app on Android's Google Play, earning $5M in September. In the iOS store, Tinder holds 4th position, followed by Bumble, earning $39M and $29M in Sep respectively.
Tinder Launches ‘Election Center’ Tool to Encourage Users to Vote
THE DRUM – 63% of singles 18 to 25 find info on ballots overwhelming. Tinder partnered with BallotReady to launch a new 'Election Center' tool in the Tinder's 'Explore' page. Singles can register to vote, locate polling stations and see local ballot measures.
In 2020, Grindr launched its 'Voting is sexy' campaign. After the Roe v. Wade ruling, Tinder added an option for singles to disclose if they are pro-choice or not on their profile and a promotion to support Bansoff.org, a campaign for abortion rights. In September, Tinder launched an initiative to support the "Respect for Marriage Act," for same-sex and interracial marriage federal government recognition.
by Audrey Kemp
See full article at The Drum
Mark Brooks: What do you think of this? An overstep for dating apps, or good civic duty (and sound brand-building)?