STARTUPS.CO.UK – Karima Ben Abdelmalek, CEO of happn, highlights how AI can address key issues in online dating, such as safety and dating fatigue. AI tools can detect suspicious behavior, help eliminate scammers, and offer curated profile selections to combat user fatigue, like happn's 'Daily' feature. She also notes that AI can support partnerships with the hospitality industry by suggesting meeting spots for dates, benefiting both users and businesses. Abdelmalek stresses that AI should be used responsibly to improve the user experience, not just as a marketing tactic.
Category: happn
happn Expands CrushPoints Feature, Connecting Singles Through Shared Favorite Locations
THE TIMES OF BENGAL – happn, a dating app with ~41M users in India, has expanded its CrushPoints feature to allow users to add favorite places like restaurants and parks to their profiles. This helps singles connect based on shared locations. In partnership with Foursquare, happn integrates a vast array of global locations. happn plans to integrate advertising based on user interests and aims to double its B2B revenues by 2025.
Niche Dating Apps Gain Popularity, Offering Fresh Alternatives to Hinge and Bumble
FAST COMPANY – Smaller dating apps like HER, Feeld, and Happn are gaining traction by serving niche communities and offering alternatives to major apps like Bumble and Hinge. "They're not designed to be first-tier," says Eric Resnick, an online dating coach. "They're just designed to serve their niche really well." HER, targeting queer women and nonbinary individuals, boasts 15M users and is experiencing what founder Robyn Exton calls a "sapphic renaissance." Match Group operates community-based apps such as Archer, BLK, Chispa, and Upward. Happn, a French app, connects users who frequent the same locations, appealing to those tired of endless swiping. Feeld, popular among nonmonogamous users, allows users to list intimacy preferences and has seen significant growth among Gen Z.
Dating App Happn Unveils Personalized ‘Hobbies’ Feature
happn and the Alternative Story Collaborate to Offer Free Therapy for Online Dating Challenges
BOLDOUTLINE – Happn, a leading real-life dating app, partners with The Alternative Story, a mental health organization, to launch #SundaySharingSessions. This initiative offers happn users free counselling chat sessions every Sunday from Jan 14 to Feb 4, 2024, addressing challenges like emotional burnout in digital dating and the importance of mental health in relationships. The partnership aims to provide a supportive space for honest conversations and professional guidance, reflecting both organizations' commitment to enhancing mental well-being in the dating world.
Happn Launches “Ready to Date” Feature
GADGETS NOW – Happn has introduced a new feature named 'Ready to date' which allows users to indicate their readiness to meet in person. The feature is integrated on the conversation page of two users, and when one user expresses their readiness, it remains private until the other user does the same. Karima Ben Abdelmalek, the CEO and President of Happn, emphasized that the feature incorporates the important aspect of consent and reflects Happn's core mission of not only fostering connections online but also helping them transition into real-life relationships.
Happn Launches CrushPoints: Connecting Singles Through Shared Favorite Place
Happn at New Street Research – Online Dating Summit
OPW – Mark Brooks interviewed Karima Ben Abdelmalek, the CEO of Happn at the Online Dating Summit that took place last week in New York. They discussed the unique features of Happn, its target market, the potential for growth in the industry, challenges, and the use of AI in the app. They also talked about the possibility of incorporating VR or augmented reality into Happn in the future. Karima also presented the results of their survey (Happn's Online Trends) conducted in Brazil, Nordic countries, and France, which revealed what users expect from Happn in the future. The survey found that users want to retain control of their love lives and have a healthy experience that focuses on communication, prevention, information, and education.
Mark: What is the "Je ne sais quoi" of Happn?
Karima: Happn is a dating app that relies on Geo-location to connect people who have crossed paths in real life. The app focuses on finding matches who frequent the same places or areas. Happn's Je ne sais quoi is its ability to connect people with their surroundings and facilitate meaningful in-person interactions.
Mark: Marc Simoncini from Meetic once said that 22 miles is the magic number. Grindr is also focused on location. But let's distinguish between location and vicinity. Grindr's location-based approach is really about connecting individuals in the same general area.
Karima: Meeting someone nearby is not the only aspect we desire. We also want to connect with someone who frequents the same places as us. This shared location serves as a perfect conversation starter.
Mark: What is your target market?
Karima: We are a global company with a strong presence in Western Europe, Latin America, and emerging countries like India. We have ~135M users globally, with 10M in France, 20M in Brazil, and 33M in India.
Mark: Can we discuss the potential for growth in our industry?
Karima: Our industry revolves around human and social behavior, which has boundless potential for growth. With new generations, gender inclusivity, and diverse cultures entering the scene, the sky's the limit for us.
Mark: What could hold us back?
Karima: Our biggest challenge is to combat online dating fatigue and motivate users to transition from online to in-person meetings. Additionally, we need to revisit our business model and introduce more value-added services.
Mark: Can you tell us about how Happn is currently using AI and any plans for the future?
Karima: We are using AI for safety purposes. It helps us identify scammers and bots. We've developed an algorithm that continuously evolves to keep up with the latest tactics used by scammers and bots. We're also exploring the use of picture analysis through AI to uncover shared interests among users. By analyzing the backgrounds in profile pictures, we can gain insight into people's personalities and preferences.
Mark: Can you share your thoughts on how Happn would look like with VR in the next five years?
Karima: While VR is an exciting technology, it doesn't align with our core vision of facilitating real-life meetings between people. Our current priorities are focused on ensuring the safety of our users and keeping our app innovative. However, we do see potential in using augmented reality to gamify the dating experience and provide virtual dates for people to connect before meeting in person. It would be a great ice-breaker.
Online Dating (Investors) Summit, in New York
OPW – New Street Research, assisted by Courtland Brooks, is organizing the Online Dating (Investors) Summit in New York tomorrow, Tuesday 14th March. 40-50 institutional and large-scale public company investors will be in attendance, along with a diverse group of public and private Internet dating company CEOs.
The CEO of Match Group, Bernard Kim, along with the COO of Tinder, Faye Iosotaluno, and CPO of Tinder, Mark Van Ryswyk will speak. The CEO of Grindr George Arison and CFO of Grindr Vanna Krantz will also be speaking.
Mark Brooks of Courtland Brooks (and OPW.news), will be interviewing a panel of private company CEOs, namely Joel Simkhai, the Founder of Grindr, and now CEO of Motto. Also Carsten Boeltz, the CEO of Online Dating Group, and Paul Rider, the CEO of SALT. Mark will then interview the CEO of happn, Karima Ben Abdelmalek.
This is a completely unique event and opportunity for large investors to meet and mingle with the CXOs of both the large online dating public companies and private dating companies to get a better sense of the challenges and opportunities for the dating industry.
Investors who are interested in joining future niche industry meetings and learning from New Street Research's independent analysis, please inquire with New Street Research.
Happn Launches a New Feature Based on 2023 Dating Trends
NORWAY POSTS – Happn, a dating app with 135M registered users, has launched a new feature called "Hub," which lets users take control of their love lives, filter, and evaluate compatibility. The hub is divided into four parts: Discover, Game, Explore, and Against. Discover lets users interact with new profiles. Game includes the CrushTime game to spice up the search. Explore provides access to the Map and new options to refine navigation. Against lets users filter preferences on the type of relationship sought.