TECH CRUNCH – Mar 1 – Aimed exclusively at lesbians, bisexual and/or bi-curious women, the Dattch dating app is now launching in SF. The app emphasises photos, and thus draws comparisons with Pinterest in user interface. Dattch does not emphasise proximity-based social networking. It incorporates Facebook Connect and makes a point of weeding out fake profiles created by straight men. Dattch targeted London and other UK cities initially. Australia is also on its roadmap. The mostly female team has closed a $160K Angel round.
Category: All Gay
Blued, China’s Gay Flirting App, Raised $1.6M
TECH IN ASIA – Feb 21 – Blued, a Grindr-style hook-up app, has secured series A funding to help it hire new staff and grow its user-base. The app got RMB 10M (US$1.6 million) from undisclosed investors. Blued claims 3M users. Blued is not alone in this space in China. There’s also Zank, Hong Kong-made Hornet, and the OK Cupid-esque Xunta.
by Steven Millward
See full article at Tech In Asia
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Match.com Survey Reveals What Gay Singles Want
ADVOCATE – Feb 20 – Match.com's recent study found that single men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, have the same outlook when it comes to dating. 41% of gay men and 43% of lesbian women want to get married, as opposed to the 25% and 19% who don’t. 33% of gays and 37% of lesbians were unsure if marriage was right for them. As for starting a family, 15% of gay men and 18% of lesbians want children. Having a partner who is physically attractive is important to 90% of gay men and 87% of lesbian women.
by Justin Hernandez
See full article at Advocate
Russian Gay Dating App Blocked In Sochi
TOWLEROAD – Feb 4 – Hunters, a gay hook-up app popular in Russia, came under an attack by hackers. All users received an anonymous threat which read: "You will be arrested and jailed for gay propaganda in Sochi according to Russian Federal Law". Hunters is blocked in Sochi and Adler now, and ~72K user profiles were deleted throughout Russia. Maybe the Russian Government implemented Turkish practices where Grindr has been banned for almost half a year.
by Andy Towle
The full article was originally published at Towleroad, but is no longer available.
Wing Ma’am: HowAboutWe For Lesbians
MASHABLE – Jan 28 – Ariella Furman had a hard time connecting with the LGBT community when she relocated from New York to Pittsburgh. "The existing sites were focused on hookups. Women tend to look for relationships," she said. So she created Wing Ma'am, an app that debuted on iTunes last week after a brief demo run. The app grew to 8K users during its beta period. It connects users around quality dates and experiences.
gayParship Partners With Blu Media
BLU.FM – Dec 22 – gayPARSHIP and Blu Media Group have signed a cooperative agreement to provide articles and content with helpful tips for couples and singles.
The full article was originally published at Blu.fm, but is no longer available.
Grindr’s Performance Issues Could Doom Its Relationships
FORTUNE – Dec 6 – One serious glitch is all users need to abandon one service for another. Just ask the Friendster folks. Grindr's consistent user complaints are creating opportunity for competitors like Jack'd or Scruff. Yosuke Matsuda made Jack'd fast and reliable. 5.4M users registered for the app, 1M log on daily. That's still shy of Grindr's 7M registered users and 1.2M daily active users. But Jack'd began outpacing Grindr this spring, adding 100K monthly active users. Grindr's monthly active user base is growing ~200K over at least seven months.
by JP Mangalindan
The full article was originally published at CNN Money, but is no longer available.
Chinese Gay Dating App Blued Gets 2M Users In First Year
GAY STAR NEWS – Dec 2 – Gay dating app Blued claims 2M users since its launch in Aug '12 and plans to launch Pinkd, a dating app for Chinese lesbians. The startup firm behind the apps, DanLan, is yet to figure out how to make money but attracted a $3M investment this year. It is estimated that there are ~25M gay men in China but most choose to marry to keep their parents happy.
by Andrew Potts
See full article at Gay Star News
Grindr App’s Worldwide Impact
HUFFINGTON POST – Nov 26 – Joel Simkhai, the founder and CEO of Grindr, believes he has an “opportunity to make a difference.” In 2011 he launched Grindr4Equality, an effort to use the app to help create awareness and organize. Grindr is the only option for men in countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan where gay men can go to jail for being who they are. That ability to connect gay men makes Grindr a powerful organizing tool. ~100K Grindr users signed a petition against Russia's “gay propaganda” law and users helped to raise $107K to stop anti-gay legislation in Singapore.
by Michelangelo Signorile
See full article at Huffington Post
STD App Hula Partners With Dating Apps
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN – Nov 21 - Hula app stores sexually transmitted disease test results in one place and, if users like, can discretely notify sex partners of their health status. The app makes people more aware of the need to be tested for STDs and to share the outcome with sexual partners. Hula is also hoping that it can help to reduce the risk of sex with people who met through the location-based dating apps. Hula has partnered with a gay dating app Mister. Mister is encouraging users to find local testing centers, and making their test results available to online “friends" via Hula.
by Dina Fine Maron
The full article was originally published at Scientific American, but is no longer available.