GRINDR – July 13 – According to the latest Grindr survey, 47% of survey respondents said that they had found long-term friendships on Grindr. 53% said that they were open to having kids.
Category: All Gay
Gay Dating App Lavendr Becomes Own Company
ADWEEK – July 14 – Lavendr, a STRV-developed gay dating app, announced the latest version, as well as plans to break off from STRV and become its own company. The app boasts 100K monthly active users and 15k daily active users. Lavendr has a target of 1M users by year’s end.
Samsung Ban Gay-dating Apps In South Korea Over ‘Moral’ Concerns
GAYSTARNEWS – July 11 – Samsung and Google Play have taken down gay networking apps including Jack'd in South Korea. Samsung refuses to list apps like Hornet, Grindr or Scruff in its country owing to 'local moral values.' Jack'd has ~500K users in South Korea.
Online Dating Fuels New Danger For Gays In India
WSJ – July 8 – Since India’s Supreme Court re-criminalized gay sex in 2013, homosexuals have increasingly become targets of robbery and extortion, gay men and activists say. The trend has also been fueled by the rise of Internet dating. In Dec '13, India’s Supreme Court found the law, which dates to the British colonial era, wasn’t unconstitutional and could be changed or repealed only by Parliament, effectively overturning a 2009 lower-court ruling that made consensual gay sex legal. The law is known as Section 377. Gay-dating apps and websites, including Grindr and PlanetRomeo BV, have been expanding in India. In the six months through the end of April, Grindr's users had grown by ~50% YOY. The Internet gives many men a false sense of security, and men are often blackmailed for violating Section 377.
by Gabriele Parussini
See full article at WSJ
“He’s For Me” – Matchmaking In The Gay Marriage Era
HUFFINGTON POST – June 26 – In the past, gay men had few options for meeting, hooking up and dating. Now, in 2015, they've got Grindr, Growlr, A4A, Scruff, Manhunt and others. Some guys are turning away from modern technology and going old-school, opting for a traditional matchmaker. One such intermediary is He's For Me, a Texas-based gay matchmaking service founded by Tammy Shaklee, a straight woman who met her husband through a similar company. She was shocked to learn that the matchmaker she used didn't serve gay men. To fill the void, she started H4M. H4M conducts lengthy interviews with clients, offers coaching on how to date, and sets up initial matches, along with second dates.
ManCrunch Mobile: Newest Gay Video Dating App
PRMAC – June 10 – Avid Life Media, the parent company of AshleyMadison.com, launched ManCrunch Mobile, a gay video chat app allowing users to video chat with others. ManCrunch Mobile is the mobile reinvention of the long-standing ManCrunch website which already has 175K members worldwide.
The full article was originally published at PRMac, but is no longer available.
A Chinese Policeman Builds The World’s Top Gay Dating App – Blued
FORBES – May 25 – Ma Baoli, who goes by the alias Geng Le, had been a policeman in the northern Hebei province for almost 20 years. He was forced to quit the job in 2012, when people found out he had secretly moderated Danlan, a gay website, at night. China has no anti- discrimination law in place, meaning a lot of people, especially those working for government, choose to hide their sexual orientation. Ma Baoli started Blued, a dating app similar to Grindr. Now Blued boasts ~20M users, including ~6M abroad. Last year Ma raised $30M at a valuation of $300M. This year he will start talking to investors for a new round. International expansion is on his mind. The goal is listing on the NASDAQ within five years.
Grindr Is Seeking A Buyer
BLOOMBERG – May 9 – Gay dating app Grindr has hired Raine Group to advise it on a possible sale. Joel Simkhai founded Grindr in 2009 with $5K. Four years later, the company is still self-funded with no outside investors, and charges about $12 a month.
by Leslie Picker & Alex Sherman
See full article at Bloomberg
Jack’d – First Gay App On The Apple Watch
NEWNOWNEXT – Apr 23 – Online Buddies, Jack'd's parent company, has launched the Apple Watch app extension. The new Jack'd Apple Watch app features default responses and emojis for quick responses, bookmarked favorites, and full profile options with multiple public and private photos. Online Buddies also owns Manhunt, and a new dating app – Dandy.
by Dan Avery
See full article at NewNowNext
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This post also appears on Wearable.ai.
Mixology Acquired By AgapeMatch
PRESS RELEASE – Apr 22 – Agape Match, the NYC based matchmaking service, bought Mixology, a LGBT matchmaking service. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
See full article at InternetDatingNewswire
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.