TECH CRUNCH – Feb 17 – Tinder-like app keep popping up. There is Hinge for yuppies, The League for elitists, Bumble for shy guys, The Catch for wordsmiths, Meld for black professionals, Willow for those who care about personality not looks, HeavenlySinful for those who want to get laid, etc. Right now, Tinder seems to be sticking with its one-app-fits-all approach with no plans on catering to niches. It’d be wise for IAC to at least explore the idea of building its own Micro-Tinders, adding some more segmentation into its main app. There are a lot of hot people to swipe right, but finding someone who is a good match can take plenty of train wreck dates. Better sorting preferences could connect people who are actually compatible.
Category: Bumble
Dating Apps Created By Women For Women
FORTUNE – Feb 10 – Women have been subjected to harassing comments on dating apps, like Tinder and OkCupid, which have been created by largely male teams. Several new dating apps have been created by women such as Coffee Meets Bagel that has attracted $2.8M in funding, and Bumble. On Bumble, only women can initiate the conversation. Three Bay-Area sisters, Arum, Dawoon and Soo Kang launched Coffee Meets Bagel. It uses Facebook info to match users with friends of friends. They get one match a day. If both parties decide they want the introduction, the app sends an ice-breaker question to both. Dattch is a dating app aimed at lesbians. Dattch features a pinterest-like layout which is heavy on pictures. The pictures remove the need for self-description and instead drive conversation towards interests and hobbies.
by Shalene Gupta
See full article at Fortune
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Bumble Introduces Direct Photo Messaging
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 9 – Bumble, the dating app that puts the ladies in charge, has introduced photo-messaging. “It’s a big risk for a dating app,” said Bumble co-founder Whitney Wolfe. “But we see it as a great ice breaker for girls who want to start a conversation in a more Snapchat-like way.” When a user sends a photo message, the photo is blurred unless the user is holding down on the screen. Whenever the user is holding down and the photo is clear, it’s water-marked with the the sender’s name and a picture of their face. This prevents anyone from sending something that they wouldn’t want forever attached to their identity online.
Bumble Has Better Initial Traction Than Tinder, Witney Wolfe Says
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jan 28 – In August, Whitney Wolfe was in the middle of a very-public sexual harassment lawsuit with Tinder, which is now valued at ~ $750M. She says she came up with the name and initially promoted it on college campuses. She was given a cofounder title. One person who reached out to Wolfe after the lawsuit was Andrey Andreev, the co-founder of Badoo. Now he’s partnered with her on a new dating app that resembles Tinder, Bumble. They recruited another Tinder co-founder who departed, Chris Gulzcynski, and Tinder’s former VP of Design, Sarah Mick. Bumble, like Tinder, uses profile swiping to match single people in the same town. But on Bumble, women are forced to make the first move. Wolfe says the initial traction is even better than Tinder’s was, with ~100K downloads in a little over one month and high user engagement.
by Alyson Shontell
See full article at Business Insider
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Badoo’s Founder And Whitney Wolfe Started Bumble, Female Friendly “Tinder”
BUSINESS WEEK – Dec 9 – Whitney Wolfe, Tinder's former VP of marketing, launched Bumble which works like Tinder but only women can start conversations. In Sep, Wolfe, Tinder's former VP of marketing, settled a lawsuit that accused CEO Sean Rad and marketing chief Justin Mateen of writing her co-founder status out of the company's history and sending her inappropriate SMS. A week after she filed the claim, Wolfe says she received an e-mail from Andrey Andreev, founder of Badoo, expressing support. They hatched a plan to start a new “female-focused product,” Andreev said in an e-mail.
by Natalie Kitroeff
See full article at Business Week
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Bumble Is Exactly Like Tinder Except Girls Are In Charge
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 2 – Whitney Wolfe and a group of other former Tinder employees has just launched Tinder competitor called Bumble. It’s almost identical to Tinder but guys are not allowed to send the first message on Bumble. Girls must initiate the conversation with their matches, or else they disappear after 24 hours. The only control the guy has in the situation is the ability to extend one match each day for an extra 24 hours.
Former Tinder Employees To Launch Direct Competitor Called Bumble
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 24 – Whitney Wolfe, an early employee at Tinder who sued the company for sexual harassment and workplace discrimination, has joined up with two other early Tinder employees, Chris Gulczynski and his partner Sarah Mick (cofounders of YayNext), to launch a direct competitor to Tinder called Bumble. A preview video of the app shows a user making a match and chatting. The app is slated to launch on December 1.