BANGALORE MIRROR – May 25 – Popular Indian music label and film production company acquired a stake in French dating app. Neither the stake nor the amount paid for it were disclosed. Tulsiram Naidu of Lahari said they were approached to buy a stake. "It is a low-risk venture which is already profitable. So there was no saying no to it," Naidu said.
See full article at Bangalore Mirror
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
NEWSWIRE – May 8 – Northsight Capital is acquiring Crush Mobile Apps, in an all-stock transaction. Crush Mobile, with approximately one million members, has developed a group of dating sites Latino, Israeli and African American communities. Crush will also be incorporating Northsight's "Joint Lovers" dating app, which concentrates on the Cannabis space, into its portfolio.
See full article at Digital Journal
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
PRESS RELEASE – May 8 – South East Asia's largest dating company, Lunch Actually Group, has acquired Indonesia's biggest dating service, Setipe. Both Lunch Actually Group and Setipe has been targeting singles who are looking for serious relationship. Founder and CEO of Setipe, Razi Thalib, and his team will join the 110 people-strong team of associates (also known as Cupids and Transformers) at the Lunch Actually Group.
See full article at Internet Dating Newswire
See all posts on Lunch Actually
See all posts on Setipe
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
ACCESSWIRE – May 2 – German dating company Affinitas, which operates premium online dating platforms EliteSingles, eDarling and Attractive World, is merging with Spark Networks. The newly formed company will be named Spark Networks SE and will be headquartered in Berlin, and maintain a significant U.S. presence with offices in New York City and Lehi, Utah. The combination will create a company with ~$115M of pro forma combined revenue over the twelve months. EliteSingles shareholders will own ~75% of Spark Networks SE and Spark shareholders will own 25%. Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of EliteSingles, will serve as CEO and Robert O'Hare, Spark's CFO, will continue in that role with the combined company. Michael Schrezenmaier, Managing Director of EliteSingles, will become COO. The Board of Directors will be comprised of seven directors, including three to be selected by EliteSingles, one to be selected by Spark, and three to be mutually agreed upon by EliteSingles and Spark.
See the full article at Internet Dating Newswire
See all posts on Spark Networks See all posts on eDarling
See all posts on EliteSingles See all posts on AttractiveWorld
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
LGBT WEEKLY – Mar 17 – Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pink Triangle Press already owns another gay dating app, Squirt.org, along with other brands serving the gay community. "This acquisition is part of our long-term goal to have greater exposure for Pink Triangle Press and to further grow and expand into an entirely new segment through the GuySpy social network and mobile app", according to David Walberg, Digital Media Chief Executive for Pink Triangle Press.
by Steve Lee
See full article at LGBT Weekly
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 7 – The deal is worth $60M in cash, partially funded by a $30M loan from JP Morgan. Tagged and Hi5 will both remain their own distinct brands. If(we) reported $44M revenue in 2016, with 56% coming from mobile and claimed to have 5.4M MAU, with 18k new users coming every day. The company managed to raise $28.7M. After the merger, the combined company will have 10.6M MAU and nearly 1.1M DAU. MeetMe expects If(we) to add $9M to its earnings over the next 12 months.
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
See all posts on MeetMe
See all posts on Tagged / if(we)
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
by Li Dongmei
See full article at ChinaMoney Network
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 16 – Tinder is acquiring an L.A.-based startup called Wheel, which had developed a social network for sharing Snapchat-like videos. Wheel was originally founded in 2015, when it was then called Ferris. The company had raised $2M in 2015. However, Wheel did not became a breakout success. According to data from App Annie, the app was ranked #574 in the Photo & Video category on the App Store. Following the acquisition, Wheel's founding team will join Tinder, including CEO Paul Boukadakis, CTO Chris Shaheen, Joey Boukadakis and Brian Daugherty. Boukadakis will be VP of Special Initiatives at Tinder, and Shaheen will be a senior engineer. Tinder did not share what specific plans it had for video.
REUTERS – Feb 15 – DEA General Aviation announced it's intent to acquire the dating site today, in order to expand its business. The company didn't disclose how much it would pay for Zhenai. Zhenai reported 1B yuan ($145,59M) revenue in 2016 and has more than 100M users.
by Brenda Goh
See full article at Reuters
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
THE MOTLEY FOOL – Feb 8 – Match has entered into an agreement to sell Princeton Review to ST Unitas, a global education technology company, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close by June. Princeton Review offers test-prep services and a guide to colleges. The marriage between the dating and non-dating services left many investors scratching their heads. Princeton Review never contributed more than a small amount of revenue to the overall company. Match CEO Greg Blatt summed up the decision by saying, "It has become increasingly clear to us that its differences from our core dating businesses meaningfully exceed its similarities." Companies often shutter struggling business to focus on core operations. The amount of the sale was not disclosed, but Princeton Review's revenue in 2016 was $104M.
by Jeremy Bowman
See full article at The Motley Fool