HINDUSTAN TIMES – July 30 – Bumble reached 2M users last December. Women in India are also sending twice the number of messages on Bumble as compared to users globally. Also, 32% of women users in India use more than one mode on Bumble. In addition to dating, Bumble offers 'BFF' and 'Bizz' modes as well.
Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)
Live Video Chat Apps Get in on Action
ECONOMIC TIMES – July 21 – A new ecosystem of 'Live video chat' apps has silently garnered millions of users. These apps allow users to video-call strangers. Four such apps – Chamet, LivU, WHO, and Azar – are among the top 10 grossing apps on the Play Store in India right now. According to Sensor Tower, leading apps in this category make between $200K and $300K a month in revenue from India via in-app purchases. A lot of user reviews for these apps on Google Play Store allege that they send racy messages through in-built chatbots or showcase fake profiles to lure users. Some even urge Google to look into these apps to check for malpractice.
by Sanghamitra Kar & Shephali Bhatt
See full article at Economic Times
Indian Dating App Aisle Is Competing With the Likes of Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 14 – Aisle, the home-grown dating app is among the top 5 grossing dating apps in India. The app has seen 3M downloads worldwide. Aisle was launched 6 years ago and has 10 employees.
Why BlueCity Holdings Is Tumbling 15%
THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 14 – Shares of BlueCity Holdings, owner of a Chinese LBGTQ+ dating app, were tumbling almost 16% in midday trading Monday. BlueCity, which owns the Blued app, only went public last Wednesday, soaring 46% in its debut and raising $85M. It sold 5.6M shares to the public. Investors still might be gun-shy about small Chinese start-ups going public in the U.S.
Matrimonial Sites Are Innovating During the Pandemic
by Hiren Mansukhani
See full article at Quartz India
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Blued Gay Dating App Plans to Raise $85M in US IPO
STAR OBSERVER – July 7 – Last week, Chines gay dating app Blued revealed that it plans to raise ~$85M in an IPO of American Depositary Shares (ADS). The IPO scheduled to hit the market on Wednesday July 8 is planning to sell 5.3M ADS at a price of $15-$17 per ADS. The app claims ~49M registered users. For comparison, Grindr has ~27M users and Tinder ~57M users around the world. Blued said it was planning to use the IPO proceeds for geographic expansion, investment in technology and development, AI and big data capacity.
by Shibu Thomas
See full article at Star Observer
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India’s Matrimony Portals Come of Age With Video Calls and Zoom Call Weddings
by Sanchita Dash
See full article at Business Insider
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Video Matchmaking App Yidui Completes Series B Financing Led by Sky9 Capital
GLOBE NEWSWIRE – June 26 – Yidui, the video matchmaking platform in China, has completed a Series B round of financing led by Sky9 Capital and Xiaomi. Launched in 2018, the company has ~40M users and has raised $100M to date. Yidui provides an innovative dating experience, where the date is moderated by a third person – a "matchmaker" – who facilitates the conversation. The date is live-streamed and the audience can comment and live-chat with the matchmaker. Yidui's 10M matchmakers arrange 40M dates a month. Sky9 Capital is an early-stage focused venture capital firm investing in internet, enterprise and deep-tech sectors in China.
See full article at Globe Newswire
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Bharat Matrimony Launches Video Chat
TIMES OF INDIA – June 18 – Bharat Matrimony has launched a new online video chat feature. Woman can only receive video calls from premium members they contacted or responded to earlier. On the other hand, men can get video calls from any premium female member and will be able to call only women who responded to their earlier enquiry.
Ashley Madison’s Users Rise in Taiwan After Adultery Ruling
TAIPEI TIMES – June 15 – Ashley Madison's membership in Taiwan has risen 70% following last month's ruling by the Council of Grand Justices decriminalizing adultery, and the majority of new members are women. Ashley Madison chief strategist Paul Keable said Asia was unique, as women make up the majority of its membership, adding that 1.9M members are from Taiwan. Awakening Foundation general secretary Chou Yu-hsuan said that Ashley Madison's increased membership could be an indication that the grand justices' ruling had empowered women to pursue their desires. The ruling was not intended to encourage people to have affairs and she did not condone people joining the website, she said.
by Wu Cheng-feng and William Hetherington
See full article at Taipei Times