PIANETACELLULARE.IT – Nov 5 – Dating site Meetic has launched a new Meetic Wear App. The app for Android Wear smartwatch is designed with a simple interface.
See full article at PianetAcellulare.it
Mark Brooks: The first Android Wear app by a major dating site. Bravo Meetic.
This post also appears on Wearable.ai.
TELECOMPAPER – Oct 15 – Bitkom Research in corporation with Aris report that 36% were successful and found a partner. Among young people age 14-29, 23% has tried it. 16% of age 30-49, and 14% of 50-64. While 12% of Germans have signed up for a dating website, the study showed that only 8% are actively using the service. Only 25% of users were willing to pay.
IFAMAGAZINE – Oct 13 – Richard Griffith, one of Cupid’s top-five shareholders, has raised his share capital from 3.9% to 8.9% after buying up 3.2M shares. Cupid reported last month that revenues in H1 declined to £7.2M from £9.4M in H2 2013 due to lower direct marketing spend, a more competition market and delays in implementing product changes.
The full article was originally published at IFA Magazine, but is no longer available.
STL TODAY – Oct 11 – A Nigerian man, accused of running an online “romance scam” that victimized ~30 women in USA, has been arrested in London. He pretended to be a member of the military, using information and photos he’d stolen from real people on online dating sites.
by Robert Patrick
See full article at STL Today
THE DRUM – Oct 1 – The app will use geo-tagging to track users and connect them with nearby Tangle users for conversation. Setting the app apart from established apps is its real-time tracking feature meaning users will always be connected with individuals in the local area. Furthermore, ‘right-swiped’ matches will be available to view with users capable of messaging each other without being matched. It is available for download on the Android platform with a subsequent iOS version due out later in October.
by John McCarthy
See full article at The Drum
STOCKMARKETWIRE – Sep 23 - Cupid has announced that in H1 2014 the adjusted EBITDA loss was reduced to £2.8M (H2 2013: £3.3M). The company plans to launch both an innovative new mobile matchmaking app, 'Tangle', and Uniform Dating in the US on a new platform. The management expect the company to be cash generative in the Q4 2014.
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Sep 21 – Many country-loving singles aged 18-26 join Young Farmers, an organisation with 25K members that arranges ski trips and dances for young country dwellers. Lucy Reeves and her sister Emma failed to meet anyone through Young Farmers, so they founded Muddy Matches in 2007. The site has now 100K members and 50% of its traffic is via mobile. Muddy Matches launches a new app, destined to become 'Tinder for country types'.
by Anna Tyzack
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
Mark Brooks: MuddyMatches gets 55k hits a month according to Similarweb. Mostly in the UK. The big daddy in this niche is FarmersOnly.com with 1 million visit a month mostly in the USA. It's hard to believe the farming dating niche is so huge. But farmers are in demand, and they have good coin to spend on dating. They don't have so much time to be going to bars.
PRESS RELEASE – Sep 15 - Parship has announced that Tim Schiffers will run the company after current CEO Arne Kahlke retires. Arne Kahlke has led the company since 2012. Henning Rönneberg stays as COO and Marc Schachtel as CTO.
OPW – Aug 27 – Although the number of monthly users over the last two years has increased 13% to 7.1M, the revenue is down from £168.5M in 2011 to £158.7M in 2013, according to a new report by leadingdatingsites.co.uk.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 14 – Rocket Internet is one of the most successful and controversial startup incubators in the world. Last week, the Berlin-based startup accelerator raised $445M at a $4.5B valuation. And it’s reported to be shooting for an IPO soon, with hopes of reaching a valuation as high as $6.7B. Rocket Internet's strategy is to copy ideas that work in certain markets and build the same exact business model in regions that haven’t yet been explored. It launched eDarling in 2008, a copy-cat of eHarmony. The site now operates in 20-plus countries. eHarmony was a 30% shareholder until 2013. eDarling focused on mostly non-English-speaking countries, but have announced plans to expand to the U.K. and Ireland recently.
by Eugene Kim
See full article at Business Insider
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