CITYAM – Mar 1 – UK Cannabis firm Jacana heads towards floatation after securing $20M in private investment. Serial entrepreneur Alexandra Chong, the company's co-founder, said "all options were on the table" in terms of funding, as Jacana seeks to expand its production facility in Jamaica to meet the demand for medicinal cannabis in the UK. After making her name with the women-only dating app Lulu, which was sold to Badoo in 2016, Chong said she was focusing on her "passion project" of creating the "champagne of cannabis".
Category: Lulu
Review Of People Rating Apps
- Peeple – The first "Yelp for humans" app. Users have privacy concerns. There are reviews about people without their consent.
- Stroovy – Stroovy requires the person being reviewed to have an active dating profile visible to the public. Stroovy requires users to submit a full review on someone before that user is allowed to search reviews of anyone else.
- Lulu – Once a platform for women to review men on dating sites, Lulu is now a retooled Tinder clone. This people-reviewing app was recently sold to Badoo
Stroovy's approach appears to be the most respectable. Only allowing reviews of people currently "putting themselves out there."
See full article at Review Weekly
Lulu Is Dead
See all posts on Lulu
See all posts on Badoo
Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.
Lulu Doesn’t Let Women Rate Men Anymore
YAHOO FINANCE – Mar 29 – When Lulu started, it wasn't a vehicle for finding a date; it was a rating app. In February, the app sold to Badoo, the largest online-dating company in the world, for an undisclosed amount, and the rating system was swiftly dismantled. It now looks like any other Tinder imitation. Alexandra Chong, the former Lulu CEO, has relocated to London and become president of Badoo. Lulu will remain active for now, Badoo says, but Chong will be focusing on Badoo's separate mobile app. In other words, the Lulu acquisition looks more like an acqui-hire. Badoo hadn't made many acquisitions before it bought Lulu, which would not share how many users it has. Badoo has 300M users across 190 countries, and one of Chong's new tasks is to grow its app in the US.
by Daniel Roberts
See full article at Yahoo Finance
Lulu Acquired By Badoo
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 9 – Lulu, the once controversial mobile app that let women anonymously review and rate men, has been acquired by Badoo. Lulu founder and CEO Alexandra Chong will move back to London from New York to join Badoo as President, where she'll be focusing on international expansion. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Lulu had raised $15M. The new Lulu will be powered by Badoo.
by Steve O'Hear
See full article at Tech Crunch
See all posts on Lulu
See all posts on Badoo
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Dating App Lulu, As We Know It, Is Dead
ENGADGET – Jan 27 – Old Lulu was a platform based more on information than action. Female users went there to see if the guy they just met was a creep. Lulu is now one of Badoo's white label dating sites.
by Chris Velazco
See full article at Engadget
Lulu Is Now A Dating App, Relaunches In Brazil
ZDNET – Aug 14 – Lulu, the controversial men review app, is relaunching in Brazil with new functionalities that includes access to men, who will be able to view their "scores" in the app, a chat function that will allow women to initiate conversations with men. When Lulu first launched in Brazil in 2013, the app faced legal issues from men who felt offended by comments made by former partners. The new version of the app will no longer require users to link their Facebook profiles to the tool. Anyone on the app can delete their profiles and reviews with an automatic self-removal function.
Lulu Launched In UK
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – June 19 – Lulu, the controversial dating app that lets women rate men, has launched in the UK, following success in the US (it had ~ 200K users after two months, and a 60% retention rate). It allows women to comment on and rate the men they know and have dated.
Lulu App’s Truth Bombs Lets Users Anonymously Ask About Sex
BUSTLE – Dec 3 - Lulu App’s Truth Bombs feature allows male and female users to anonymously ask, answer, and comment on intimate questions regarding sex and relationships. Men are allowed to post questions, but only the male poster is allowed to make comments on his thread. When a female creates a post, men are barred from chiming in. However, all male users can read all posts, even if they can’t participate in the conversation.
How She Did It: Q&A With Alexandra Chong On Founding Lulu
FORBES – Nov 20 – Alexandra Chong is the Founder & CEO of Lulu, the provocative female app that allows users to rate men.
Q: What inspired you?
A: I graduated with a law degree from LSE, and I went to work in the legal department of a music licensing start-up. I quickly realized I wanted to start my own business. I went to a brunch with a group of girls after Valentine’s Day. It was a table of just women sharing stories about guys. I concluded that women needed their own network for sharing with other women.
Q: What were some of the tactics you used to get Lulu off the ground fast?
A: We went directly to our customers. College sororities and fraternities seemed like a great fit, so we ran a beta at two colleges in Fl. Within just a few weeks, we had 40% of girls and 60% guys on a campus on Lulu!
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced?
A: I don’t have a technical background, so I needed a very strong technical lead. Our CTO, Hassan Chahrour, was one of my first hires.
Q: What do you see as the future of dating and the emergence of accompanying tools, in particular?
A: Online dating is now the norm. We hear from users that dating without a reference is a scary thing. Lulu provides a critical information layer for the dating industry.
Q: What successes have you achieved so far at Lulu?
A: We’ve reached millions of girls in the US, including one in four US college girls. We hit #1 in the App Store in Brazil just one week after launch.
Q: Do you have any advice for other professionals aspiring to start their own business?
A: It all starts with the team. Find people that are smarter than you who you believe in and want to work with.