OPW – Dec 6 – FirstDate.com, the fastest growing Scandinavian dating site, is partnering with leading newspapers in Sweden (Expressen, 3M unique visitors), Denmark (Berlingkse Tidene, 1.5M uniques) and Norway. FirstDate.com will power their sex, love and dating category.
Category: All UK & Europe
Mektoube.fr: Best French Website Of 2013
PRESS RELEASE – Dec 5 – Mektoube.fr, a dating site dedicated to the Muslim and Maghreb community in France, won "Website of the Year 2013" and " Best Dating website of the year" in France. The Website of the Year award is France’s most important people’s choice award. The "Most Popular Dating Website" is Adopteunmec.com.
Global Personals Selected For Future Fifty Fast-track
PRESS RELEASE – Dec 6 – UK Global Personals has been chosen for the goverment's Future Fifty fast-track programme. The program aims to connect high-growth companies with experts to help them scale rapidly. The selected companies will receive support from both public and private sectors.
Grouper To Launch In UK
THE GUARDIAN – Dec 1 - Grouper dating site attempts to get users off the site as quickly as possible. The site has staff dedicated to matchmaking, picking which trios will work best together, pick the places where those dates will happen and then negotiate with the venue. The site has grown to its current size largely through word of mouth.
Cupid Named New CEO
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Nov 25 – Bill Dobbie, Cupid's CEO, is stepping down after a difficult year that has seen the share price collapse following an investigation into its practices. He will be replaced by Phil Gripton. Mr Dobbie, who retains a 21% stake in the company, will remain on the board as a non-executive director. Phil Gripton was previously the managing director of dating services. The company’s shares traded as highly as 200p at the start of this year; they have since fallen to 57.1p.
by John Ficenec
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
Deutsche Telekom Sells 70% Of Scout24
GVA.BE – Nov 21 – Deutsche Telekom sells a stake of 70% in its Internet subsidiary Scout24 to U.S. investment company Hellman & Friedman for ~1.5 billion Eur in cash. Scout24 operates sites such as AutoScout24, FinanceScout24, JobScout24, TravelScout24 and FriendScout24, one of the biggest German dating sites.
See all posts on FriendScout24
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Lexa.nl, Dutch Dating Site, To Use Brand Ambassadors
EMERCE – Nov 19 – Lexa.nl, the largest dating site in Netherlands owned by Meetic, is planning on using couples who met on Lexa.nl as their brand ambassadors to share their experiences with friends and followers.
Lovestruck Is UK’s 5th Top Startup
THE GUARDIAN – Nov 18 – Deloitte has published its Technology Fast 50, which charts the 50 most rapidly growing tech companies in the UK. Their combined annual revenue is £672M but the average five-year growth rate is 1,382%.Here's the top 10:
- Infectious Media
- Avecto
- AlertMe
- Mobile Account Solutions
- Lovestruck.com – dating site for busy people. Lovestruck's growth rate has been 2,658%.
- Monitise
- Sixteen South
- FreeAgent
- Equal Experts UK
- Backbone Connect
Tinder Is Exploding In Norway
NORDIC PAGE – Nov 15 - Tinder is the world's fastest growing dating app. Its user base grows by 5% every day in Norway. Frode Thuen, a psychologist and relationship expert, believes it only favors those who are attractive. The feeling of failure is more present, he says.
Free Dating Sites Prove A Hit With UK Consumers Surfing For Love
PR WEB – Nov 13 – Greenlight, a digital marketing agency, analysed Sep search data to identify the most popular online dating-related keywords consumers used when they went to Google UK. The majority of consumer queries (15%) were for free dating sites. Other popular searches included ‘first dates’, ‘mature dating’ and ‘polish dating’. eharmony.co.uk was the most prominent site in the organic listings overall. ashleymadison.com was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 51% share of voice in the paid listings.