MONEYLIFE – May 11 – Matrimony.com Ltd offers a platform for online matchmaking and marriage services, one of the first companies to provide such services in India. It now has a database of 4.38M active profiles. Matrimony has 134 retail centres where customers can walk in and seek the assistance to register on websites or make payment for the matchmaking product. Its flagship brand, BharatMatrimony, has 15 language-based domains under its umbrella. Matchingmaking services makes up 97% of its business revenue. Matrimony also caters in the marriage service industry. The wedding services industry is worth ~$56B in India. The matchmaking and wedding industry has been growing at 20-25% every year. 10-12M marriages take place annually in India. Matrimony's 2019 revenues grew just 4% from Rs335crore ($44M) in FY2018 to Rs348crore ($46M) for FY2019. Matchmaking segment grew 9.49% YOY. Revenues for marriage services declined by 22.7% for the same period. As far as the profitability margins are concerned, Matrimony has been able to increase its operating profit margins since FY2015. Margins have improved from 3% in FY2016 to 14% for FY2019. Matrimony is currently trading at Rs341 ($4.5) which is 65% below its issue price of Rs985 ($13).
Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)
Gleeden Crosses One Million Users in India
INDIAN EXPRESS INDULGE – May 11 – Gleeden, the extramarital dating app has crossed the milestone of one million users in India. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gleeden recorded +166% new subscriptions compared to January and February 2020.
Gay Men in South Korea Are Being Hunted on Dating Apps
Indians Are Spending More Time on Bumble
QUARTZ – May 8 – Bumble is seeing an increase in usage in India. The app has observed an 11% increase in Gen Z registrations during the week ending March 27, versus the fortnight before. More than two in five chats are turning into something more meaningful with a large number of messages exchanged. There has also been a 17% increase in video calls during the week ended March 27 from a fortnight ago. India continues to be an important growth market for Bumble. The app kicked off 2020 with the rollout of an integrated campaign, "Dating Just Got Equal," which aims to challenge antiquated dating rules.
Offline-only Dating Apps in India See Surge in Users
by Sanghamitra Kar
See full article at Economic Times
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Top Dating Apps in China During Coronavirus Pandemic
SCMP.COM – May 1 – The nine largest dating apps by China iOS app store ranking are Yidui, Tantan, Momo, Soul, Yimu, Zhenai, Hezi, Blued and Rela. ~622M people used dating apps in China last year, and the market is set to hit $290M in revenues by 2024, according to Statista.com.
- Yidui
Video-based speed matchmaking app, targeting singles in lower-tier cities, it later introduced a professional matchmaker in the app and added a live-streaming feature to speed up matches - Tantan
China's Tinder clone, launched in June 2014, raised ~$120M. In 2018, the company was acquired by Momo - Momo
Launched in 2011, evolved from a simple location-based dating app to a general social platform that, in addition to its original features, also includes group chats, live-streaming, short-video, and casual games. The company went public on Nasdaq in Dec 2014. - Soul
Launched in 2015, it matches users based on a personality test, targeting young users. Soul has closed a Series C round of an undisclosed sum last year. - Jimu
Released in late 2016, the app melds features of dating apps with youth social networking functions, targeting urban residents who like art, fashion, and music. The company raised "tens of millions of yuan" in June last year from a Series B round led by Bluerun Ventures and Sequoia Capital. In July 2019, Hong Kong-listed Chinese live-streaming firm Inke bought Jimu for $85M. - Zhenai
Founded as early as 2005, is one of the oldest and well-known matchmaking websites in China, which also offers offline services. Zhenai has made several updates to its app in a bid to reach younger users as well, adding features including personal assessments, live-streaming, and a status-posting section. - Hezi
Voice-based social app Hezi was launched at the beginning of 2019, founded by two senior executives from Momo. - Blued
Launched in 2012 by the Chinese LGBTQ community website Danlan, Blued is the top gay dating app in China. The company has raised ~$130 M. - Rela
Founded in 2012, the first location-based dating app for lesbians in China.
Seeking Arrangement App Gone From the Chinese Apple App Store
REPUBLIC – Apr 20 – Seeking Arrangement is a widely popular sugar daddy dating app that was launched by MIT graduate Brandon Wade. The social networking app offers pay-to-play relationships usually between older, wealthier men, and young women. Seeking Arrangement, which was launched in China in 2015, was later removed from the iOS App Store in the country. The app had also not been available on multiple Android stores such as Tencent MyApp and 360 Mobile Assistant. After the removal, the Chinese site had been rebranded where sugar daddies and sugar mommas were called "successful people," and sugar babies were termed as "charming sweethearts". The company's spokesperson had also stated that the company looks to create a high-end marriage and love social platform for the Chinese audience, which will be different from the sugar-dating market in the US and other countries.
Dating Apps Prove Popular in China During Covid-19 Outbreak
CHINA DAILY – Apr 17 – Industry experts said the "cloud matchmaking" method, which includes livestreaming and short videos, is gaining traction among singles. According to Tantan, the average time people spent on the app in early- and mid-February increased by ~30%. The number of users surged 60% during the peak hour which often runs from midnight to 1am. During the outbreak, those born after the period around 1995 and after 2000 have become the top users of Tantan. They recorded a 20% increase in messages sent and daily matches. Zhenai.com said its active users reached 10M during the Chinese New Year holiday on Jan 24 to Feb 2, an increase of 39% compared with the same period of last year. ~10K people found highly compatible matches on the app. Baihe Jiayuan Network Group's CEO Wu Linguang said video and livestreaming dating services have been launched to lure customers during the epidemic. The time users spend on video dating rose 30% during the Spring Festival holiday YOY.
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Matrimonial Site Shaadi.com Organises #WeddingsFromHome
FINANCIAL EXPRESS – Apr 16 – As weddings continue to get postponed owing to the outbreak of coronavirus and the need to maintain social distancing, Indian matrimonial platform Shaadi.com has launched a new initiative of conducting weddings from home through video conferencing. So far, Shaadi has already conducted one virtual wedding and is expected to conduct another one in the week ahead.
Life Lessons From Paktor’s Co-founder
CNA LIFESTYLE – Apr 5 – As CEO of M17 Entertainment Group, the entrepreneur has led the firm to become the largest live streaming and social entertainment company in Asia. In 2012 Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel launched in the US and Joseph Phua chose to build his own platform that catered to the Asian community. After completing his MBA at University of Chicago in 2013, he returned to Singapore and launched Paktor with his primary school classmate, Ng Jing Shen. Paktor now has 20+ million users across eight Asian markets. In Nov 2019 they acquired live streaming platform MeMe Live. "We connect people in real-time and provide them with entertainment."