JDSUPRA – Aug 1 – E-commerce providers usually specify a choice of law and a choice of venue in their customer agreements, and those provisions are typically honored by courts. But in certain situations, state interests in protecting its residents may override these agreed-up dispute forums, according to a recent case involving the dating service Bumble. Bumble is based in Austin, Texas and the United Kingdom. And its terms of service state that the customer's relationship with Bumble "are governed and interpreted by the laws of the State of New York." So when a class action suit was brought against Bumble in California, based on two California laws, Bumble moved to dismiss on the grounds that only New York laws, not California laws, governed its dealings with customers. The California laws raised by the plaintiffs were a Dating Service law, which allows dating service subscribers a cooling-off period, and an Automatic Renewal law, which imposes limits on subscriptions with automatic renewals and payments. Because New York allows automatic renewals for contracts lasting less than a month, the court found that California law applied, despite the contractual New York law provision.
Category: Bumble
Chappy and Bumble Team up for Pride 2019
Jameela Jamil and Bumble Team up to Combat Loneliness
Bumble Teams up With Country Couples for Charity
EAGLECOUNTRYONLINE – July 25 – Bumble is teaming up with four country music power couples for charity. Bumble users can win a double date with Carly Pearce and Michael Ray, Chris Lane and Lauren Bushnell, Kane and Katelyn Brown or Scotty and Gabi McCreery. In return, Bumble will make a $25K donation to the country couple's charity of choice.
Bumble’s Chief Brand Officer Explains How to Build a Successful Brand
FAST COMPANY – July 24 – Alex Williamson, Bumble's chief brand officer, helped create the voice of the dating and networking app. She reveals her best advice for how to successfully brand your company.
- think of your brand as a person/character and let that person/character have a strong voice
- consider your mistake as a learning path
- you have to be willing to move fast and change your directions without compromising your mission
- believe in what you are building
- constantly check in with your brand
Dating News Update – Bumble, Badoo, Jack’d and Tinder
OPW – July 16 – Ten years ago I tried an experiment doing video news updates from locations like Prague and Venice. They were a lot of work, and and way too long really. I think 2-3 minutes is about all the time you have, so here’s a new experiment. Two Minute Tuesday News Updates. Please let me know your thoughts.
Celebs Are Using Dating Apps for Promotions and It’s Confusing Users
LA MAGAZINE – July 12 – Erin Gallagher was swiping on Bumble when a picture of her longtime crush, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, popped up. It seemed too good to be true but she noticed the blue check verification next to his name, so it had to be him. Erin swiped right and, to her surprise, it was a match. Erin had fallen for an expertly executed promotion. So is it ethical of a celeb to dangle a dating carrot in front of women on Bumble Date without the intention of actually dating? Tinder has taken heat in the past for promotions using celebrities.
Bumble Owner Launches Independent Investigation Into Its Workplace Culture
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 10 – Badoo founder, Andrey Andreev, is launching an independent investigation into his workplace culture after an explosive report by Forbes. Forbes spoke to 13 former employees who described naked cocaine-fueled parties, software updates named after porn stars, and inappropriate remarks made by Andreev. Andreev said he has was "shocked and saddened" by the allegations and has brought in HR firm Peninsula Group to conduct an investigation.
by Isobel Asher Hamilton
See full article at Business Insider
Bumble CEO Responds to Reports of Misconduct at Parent Company
TECH CRUNCH – July 10 – Following an extensive report in Forbes about Bumble's parent company and its billionaire founder Andrey Andreev, the female-first dating app's founder Whitney Wolfe Herd has issued a statement. She says she was "mortified by the allegations" and "saddened and sickened to hear that anyone, of any gender, would ever be made to feel marginalized or mistreated in any capacity at their workplace." The allegations went beyond portraying a sexist work environment and detailed racist attitudes of the Badoo founder.
Forbes Investigation Into Badoo’s Corporate Culture
FORBES – July 7 – Andrey Andreev's biggest asset is Badoo, a European- and Latin American-focused dating app that, with 60M users, stands as one of the world's largest. His buzziest, however, is Bumble, the dating app focused on empowering women. Andrey launched his first dating company – Mamba – in 2004. It was a bare-bones desktop dating site for Russian users. Finam Holdings invested $20M in Mamba for a 90% stake; Andreev sold the rest to Finam in 2006 for an undisclosed amount. Building off the success of Mamba, Andreev launched Badoo in 2006. In 2010, Badoo launched its iPhone mobile app. The company went from 20M user sign-ups to 100M in four months, mostly in Europe and Latin America, and notched $200M in revenue. (Forbes estimates that last year Badoo had a bit over $300M in revenue.) Simultaneous with this growth, Badoo began earning a reputation for wild parties. More concerning, several former employees say office behavior was hostile and discriminatory toward women. Andreev maintains that he is a collaborator and unifier, not racist or sexist as others allege. Wolfe Herd, who spent Bumble's formative period walking around London with Andreev for days, says she has never witnessed toxic behavior in the Badoo headquarters. And she stands firmly behind Andreev. "What I've seen firsthand from Andrey is creative and motivating behavior. Andrey has never been anything but kind and respectful to me."
by Angel Au-Yeung
See full article at Forbes
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