BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 25 – London dating app and website "The Inner Circle" bills itself as a platform for "high-end" community. The Inner Circle has a strict invite-only policy that includes a thorough screening upon registration. The site just launched in London after setting up in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Stockholm and Amsterdam, where it was founded. So far, 50K people have been approved; there's a waiting list of far more.
Category: All UK & Europe
Gleeden Unsettles The Land Of Discreet Affairs
NY TIMES – Mar 9 – Gleeden's latest ad campaign — evoking the temptations of Eve with a partly eaten apple — has spawned a backlash and a national debate in France. The Catholic Family Associations filed a legal complaint against the site. Bus company Keolis said it withdrew the ad last month after receiving 500 complaints in a week. An anti-Gleeden petition that was circulated on social media garnered ~20K signatures. Gleeden launched in 2009, and has ~1M subscribers in France and 2.4M globally.
Hinge Launches In London
VENTURE BEAT – Feb 12 - Hinge is today launching outside the U.S. for the first time, kicking off in London. Hinge uses Facebook to match people with friends-of-friends. Hinge will be launching in Canada soon as well.
Double Sends Users On A Double Date With Facebook Friends
REUTERS – Feb 10 – UK dating site Double pairs up two Facebook friends to go on a joint date with two other friends they meet through the website's local network. Starting in London, Double plans to expand in cities across Britain, before looking to the US and worldwide.
Happn, The Dating App That ‘Takes Stalking To A New Level’
BUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 10 - Happn is the latest addition to the app-based dating scene. It secured $8M, and now boasts ~2M downloads and 700K active monthly users. Around a third of those are in London. Happn uses GPS to connect users who cross paths within a 250 metre radius. There’s no swiping. If users want to grab someone’s attention they can send a “charm.” A small fee is involved for men who want to send out charms. Happn is already in Paris, London, New York, Sydney, and parts of South America, and the team wants to see it expand internationally in the next year or so.
Video Interview With Didier Rappaport, CEO Of Happn
EUROPEANCEO – Feb 3 – Didier Rappaport is the man behind the second largest video platform, Dailymotion, and now online dating app Happn that secured $8M of investment last year. The app is available in Paris, but also in London and Berlin.
Q: How did you get people to believe in your product?
A: When you show to investors that you are able to scale a business in three different cities in Europe, it means that you know how to scale.
Q: How does it make money?
A: It is a freemium model.
Q: You also invest in many start-ups. What do you look for in a new business?
A: The idea, but the team who will execute it is even more important.
Q: What’s the next big thing?
A: Everything that will appear will be mobile. It could be wearable technologies or objects.
Topface Dating Site Pays Hacker Who Stole 20 Million Accounts
BLOOMBERG – Jan 29 – Russian online-dating service Topface said it paid a hacker an undisclosed sum, preventing the person from selling or leaking 20M user addresses. The theft raises concerns about data security in Russia, where two biggest Internet companies, Yandex NV and Mail.ru Group Ltd, reported leaks of millions of accounts last year. Topface has 90M registered accounts, according to its website.
by Ilya Khrennikov
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.
Topface Hacked For 20M User Names
BLOOMBERG NEWS – Jan 26 – User names and e-mail addresses of 20 million visitors to a dating site based in Russia have been hacked and offered for sale online. 50% of the credentials were for people in Russia, and 40% came from the European Union.
Cupid Name Change Is Official
HERALD SCOTLAND – Jan 15 – Cupid has been officially renamed as Castle Street Investments at Companies House. The change, which received shareholder on December 23, reflects its transformation from an online dating firm to an investment company.