VENTURE BEAT – Feb 12 - Hinge is today launching outside the U.S. for the first time, kicking off in London. Hinge uses Facebook to match people with friends-of-friends. Hinge will be launching in Canada soon as well.
Category: Hinge
Which Dating Sites Received The Best And Worst PR In 2014?
CB – Feb 7 – A lot of companies that traditionally receive a lot of press hits appeared to be lacking this year, including POF, Badoo, SNAP Interactive and Zoosk. Tinder got the most press coverage in 2014, followed by Match.com. Articles mainly highlighted Tinder's impressive growth. It also scored some negative press, most notably the Whitney Wolfe lawsuit. We heard a little less about eHarmony last year, but they still received solid press coverage thanks to their new eH+ service and the announcement of a plan to launch a "jobs matchmaker". OkCupid, as usual, made the list along with AshleyMadison, Grindr and Hinge. There were also companies with more sad than good news. Cupid was one of them. They sold their casual dating sites in 2013, posted weak 2013 annual results, tried unsuccessfully to revive their business, and even launched new services such as LoveBeginsAt and dating app Tangle. In December the news came out that the company decided to sell the remaining mainstream dating sites and quit the dating business. It was not an easy year for Spark Networks either. After some bad news for investors, a fight between the company leadership and Osmium partners began, ending in July with Osmium appointing 4 new directors to the Spark´s board. CEO Greg Liberman left the company in August and layoffs began in September.
Led By Tinder, The Mobile Dating Game Surges
NY TIMES – Feb 4 – Many app makers are trying to capitalize on the Tinder method of simple, smartphone-based dating. They add a twist to the swipe. Hinge sifts only through Facebook connections for friends of friends. Clover offers Tinder-like features but with an added bonus called “On-Demand Dating.” Users pick a location and a date, and Clover sends someone to meet them. Tinder processes ~1B swipes a day and matches ~12M people a day. Amarnath Thombre, president of Match.com in North America, said that in the last year it had registered a 35% increase in the people who use Match app, and a 109% increase in the number of people who use only the app to reach Match every month.
by Molly Wood
See full article at NY Times
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Hinge Raises $12 Million
MASHABLE – Dec 11 – Mobile startup Hinge has raised $12M in Series A funding. Hinge had previously brought in $8.6M in seed funding and convertible notes. Shasta Ventures led the round, along with previous investors including Lowercase, Great Oaks, Eniac and CAA ventures. The funding will be used to bring the app into more markets. Hinge is currently available in 28 cities, 24 of which were launched in 2014. The company recently brought in former Spotify employee Eric Bogs to heads up its engineering team.
by Jason Abbruzzese
See full article at Mashable
This post also apperas on InternetDatingInvestments.
Hinge Is Giving Tinder A Run For Its Money
BUSINESS INSIDER – Oct 22 – Like Tinder, Hinge lets users see profiles of single people nearby. They can like or nix a profile. Unlike Tinder, Hinge only connects friends of friends. At the end of 2012, Hinge only had $32K left in the bank. Justin McLeod's, Hinge's founder and CEO, raised $100K a few months prior, but only a few thousand people were using it. $25,000 went to a hail-mary pass: a massive 2K-person launch party in Washington. Two weeks before the party, Apple rejected Hinge's app. The morning of the party, Apple finally approved the app. Hinge is now one of New York's hottest startups. In July Hinge raised $4.5M, bringing its total funding to $8.6M. The app makes ~8M matches a month. (Tinder, by comparison, makes 15M matches per day).
Hinge Launches In Miami
SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS JOURNAL – Sep 23 – Hinge, based in New York City, connects people who have mutual friends on Facebook. Unlike Tinder, it removes the cloak of anonymity. The company has raised ~$8.6M. Hinge launched in Tampa and Orlando as well as Miami on Tuesday, bringing the app to 16 cities across the U.S.
by Celia Ampel
See full article at South Florida Business Journal
New Dating Apps Match Facebook Friends
HOUSTON CHRONICLE – Sep 16 – Hinge launched in Houston last month. The dating app mostly matches users with their second- and third-degree connections on Facebook. Other sites and apps are taking the same route. Coffee Meets Bagel gives users a single daily match culled from their extended Facebook network. SparkStarter, which launched earlier this year, lets users match up with friends of Facebook friends. Even Tinder has a Facebook component that reveals whether the users know any of the same people. Connecting over Facebook takes away the relative anonymity of online dating.
by Alyson Ward
See full article at Houston Chronicle
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Hinge: New App For Young Professionals
BOSTON.COM – Aug 15 – The app was designed to serve a burgeoning class of young professionals and recent college graduates, who experience a “social shift” when they leave college and are no longer constantly meeting new people. Hinge has so far managed to avoid the sexist remarks, innuendos, and harassment charges that have toppled top executives at Tinder and Snapchat. This appears to be paying off among young women, who Hinge CEO Justin McLeod says have tired of “more objectifying experiences.” Hinge only matches users who share Facebook friends, giving the full name, contact information, and sometimes place of business of matches, rendering users neither shady nor faceless. The app boasts a unique algorithm that uses past choices to predict future matches. Hinge recently obtained a $4.5 million investment, speaking to how Hinge has already begun to generate momentum.
by Laura Reston
See full article at Boston.com
Hinge Raised $4.5M
TECH CRUNCH – July 2 – VCs Founders Fund and Lowercase Capital invested $4.5M in online dating app, Hinge. Hinge delivers a daily set of tailored matches based on users' profession, education and interests. Hinge’s iOS and Android userbase grew 300% this year in the nine cities it operates in: DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, San Fransicso, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and L.A. The new round brings it to $8.6M in total funding. The money will go to focusing on new product features.
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
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Interview With Justin McLeod, Founder & CEO Of Hinge
BUSINESS INSIDER – June 9 – Dating app, Hinge, matches users with friends of their Facebook friends. The app is currently live in DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and L.A.
Q: What led you to create a dating app?
A: I was coming out of business school and there was a last chance dance party where everyone was going to say who they were interested in. If there were mutual interests they would let you know. So me and my friend built an app on FB that would allow you to list your crushes and find out if you have any mutual interests.
Q: How do you decide where to launch?
A: We look at our userbase, where they have the most friends.
Q: What is your main focus right now?
A: Deepening into the existing markets instead of rapidly expanding into new ones.
Q: How has Hinge impacted the online dating world?
A: It's a lot more accessible to people, ~50% of our users haven't used a dating site.
Q: What sets you apart from Tinder?
A: Tinder is geared towards people around you, and therefore it's pretty flirtatious, it doesn't lead offline very often. Hinge is more geared towards quality interactions.
Q: How do you measure success on Hinge?
A: We've made ~2M matches.
Q: Have you heard about marriages that resulted from Hinge?
A: Yes. We get emails on daily basis from people saying the met because of Hinge.
Q: Have you personally made any new connections on Hinge?
A: A lot of my friends are now in relationships because of Hinge.
Q: Is there anything new coming to Hinge in the near future?
A: This week we're going to be releasing simple features that allow you to edit your photos.
Q: Why did you decide to make Hinge mobile-only?
A: The world is moving mobile. Mobile is the place for this kind of experience.
Q: How does Hinge's matching algorithm work?
A: It's a combination of who you liked in the past, what their attributes are, and finding more people like that who are within your world of social connections.
Q: Do you have any plans to monetize the app?
A: Yes, it will be a freemium model.