Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)

Match Group & Harmonica: More Details on the Acquisition

Posted on August 7, 2019

Match group harmonicaMENABYTES – Aug 7 – Match Group has acquired Egyptian online dating startup Harmonica. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed yet. Founded in early 2017 by Sameh Saleh, Tamer Saleh, Shaymaa Aly & Aly Khaled, Harmonica is designed to help Muslims find a life partner. Harmonica's small team of 12 full-time employees (including the founders) is joining Match Group and will work on an English app as well. Harmonica currently has an Arabic-only app. Harmonica will remain headquartered in Cairo, with Sameh Saleh continuing as CEO. It will be Match Group's first office in the Middle East.

by Mohammed Salah
See full article at MenaBytes

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Match Group Reports Q2 2019 Results, Invests in Egyptian Dating App Harmonica

Posted on August 6, 2019

HarmonicaMATCH GROUP – Aug 6 – Match Group Q2 total Revenue grew 18% YOY to $498M. Average subscribers increased 18% to 9.1M, up from 7.7M from Q2 2018. Tinder average subscribers were 5.2M in Q2 2019, increasing 503K sequentially and 1.5M YOY. Operating income was $173M, up 15% YOY. Match Group has also invested in and brought on the team behind Harmonica, a dating app based in Egypt. Match Group will further develop this app and invest in product and marketing to expand into Asia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) that are predominantly Muslim. 

See full article at Match Group website

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Bumble BFF Launches Campaign in India

Posted on August 6, 2019

Bumble bff india campaignINDIAN TELEVISION – Aug 5 – Bumble BFF today launched its first campaign "Find Real Friends" in India to promote its friendship-finding mode, which is centered around normalizing the need to make new friendships throughout life and supporting women to feel empowered and safe in doing so. Bumble BFF believes that building a strong community is the key to a happy and healthy life. The Bumble friendship platform has been very successful in India. 40% of women on Bumble in India are using Bumble BFF to find new friends.

See full article at Indian Television

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The Rise of Women-Focused Dating Apps in India

Posted on August 5, 2019

Dating-apps-indiaINDIAN EXPRESS – Aug 5 – Dil Mil, Gleeden and Bumble are a clear indicators of a new trend of women-focused dating apps in India. Indian men are not allowed on Dil Mil. The app is for women and NRI (non-resident Indian) men only. French dating platform Gleeden, which markets itself as an app for women who are already in a relationship, is free for women but charges men to send messages. On Bumble, only a woman can initiate a conversation and her identity is protected. Priti Joshi, Bumble's Global Director of Strategy, said their initial research has shown women wanted to feel secure and comfortable when making connections online. "Therefore, we developed a feature specific to India – for women using Bumble Date, only her first initial will show. In India, there is still a certain taboo attached to online dating, which is why many users, especially women resort to fake profiles or different geolocation to protect their identity."

by Hansa Verma
See full article at Indian Express

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Momo Is Launching New Dating App Qiao Qiao

Posted on July 30, 2019

Qiao qiao screenshotRADII CHINA – July 30 – Chinese company Momo, who also owns dating app Tantan, is launching new dating app Qiao Qiao, where personality comes first. The biggest hallmark of the app is that it blurs out profile pictures when users are first matched; only through chatting and interacting may they request to reveal each other's photo.

by Erica Hu
See full article at Radii China

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China’s Kunlun to Relaunch Grindr IPO

Posted on July 29, 2019

Grindr logo 2018REUTERS – July 28 – Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun is relaunching Grindr's IPO process after it said a U.S. national security panel had dropped its opposition to the plan. Beijing Kunlun was preparing for an IPO (IPO) of Grindr in September, but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), which reviews deals for potential national security concerns, intervened. At the request of U.S. officials, Kunlun that month agreed to sell the dating app. Grindr will be listed on a stock exchange outside China. Beijing Kunlun acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016 for $93M and bought out the remainder of the company in 2018.

by Meg Shen & Jan Harvey
See full article at Reuters

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Momo: Tantan Is Back With a Bang

Posted on July 25, 2019

Tantan logo 2017SEEKING ALPHA – July 24 – On April 29, dating app Tantan was removed from app stores in China at the direction of government authorities. After a 10-week hiatus, the app is available again on Chinese app stores. Less than 24 hours after being back online, the app roared to the top of the grossing ranks in China. Momo shares were trading ~$36 before the announcement of the suspension of Tantan. The share price fell ~25% over the course of May. Now shares have rallied back up, close to their price pre-suspension.

See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Shaadi.com Celebrates 6M Success Stories

Posted on July 24, 2019

Shaadi success stories logoEVERYTHING EXPERIENTIAL – July 23 – Shaadi.com is launching a brand new TV campaign that celebrates '60 lakh Success Stories'. With this campaign Shaadi.com aims to further cement its position as a market leader in the online matchmaking space.

See full article at Everything Experimental

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Chinese Dating App Flies Men to Beijing for Blind Dates

Posted on July 24, 2019

Oedating logoPR NEWSWIRE – July 23 – OE Dating will fly men to Beijing for blind dates during their "Fly for Love" event this September. The dating service helps Chinese women meet international men. The company currently has ~50K female members in China.

See full article at PR Newswire

Grindr Wanted to Make the World Better for Queer People. Then a Chinese Company Bought It

Posted on July 19, 2019

Grindr buzzfeed articleBUZZFEED NEWS – July 18 – Over the last 18 months, Grindr has faced a federal investigation, layoffs, mismanagement, and internal turmoil. Now the app is looking for a new owner. "There was a sequence of unfortunate events that exposed cultural differences, lack of strategic clarity, and internal angst between those who were gay and straight," said one former employee. "And that's what Grindr still is today." However, Grindr said in a statement that its "significant growth" from 3.3M to ~4.5M daily active users was a sign of its "hard work and cooperative efforts of the entire team." Many of Grindr's missteps over the last 18 months can be traced back to the decisions made around its sale to Kunlun Group. Just two years earlier, Grindr had been a steady and profitable 8-year-old company hoping to shed its image as a cisgender gay men's hookup app to become an all-encompassing LGBTQ-focused media destination. But Scott Chen, the new president, chose to focus on the company's hookup past rather than a three-pronged pitch around the main app, Into, and Grindr for Equality that showed Grindr could be a one-stop shop for "everything gay."

by Ryan Mac
See full article at Buzzfeed News

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