CHICAGO BUSINESS – Mar 2 – Yagan is a well-known founder, CEO and investor. He was CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce company that is being acquired by FedEx. He previously was CEO of Match Group, which acquired OkCupid. He also co-founded Excelerate Labs, which later became TechStars Chicago. He plans to raise $200M in an IPO for a special-purpose acquisition company called Corazon Capital V838 Monoceros. The company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, takes its name from the Chicago-based venture-capital firm run by Yagan and longtime business partners Steve Farsht and Phil Schwarz. As a blank-check company, Yagan and his team have 24 months to find an acquisition. Corazon says it's targeting businesses with "consumer-facing technology, subscription- or recurring-revenue models, marketplaces and networks, or those that operate in sectors such as education, social media and dating, and e-commerce."
Category: OkCupid
What Dating Apps Get the Most Press Coverage?
OPW – Mar 2 – We published 956 posts during last year on OPWS.news, featuring 257 dating industry brands. Here is who got the most press coverage on OPW.news.
- Tinder (137 posts)
- Match Group (96 posts)
- Bumble (93 posts)
- The Meet Group (58 posts)
- Grindr (46 posts)
- Hinge (40 posts)
- OkCupid (39 posts)
- PlentyOfFish (28 posts)
- Match.com (27 posts)
- Blued (18 posts)
One Year Later: How Covid-19 Changed Dating
OKCUPID – Feb 28 – Mentions of 'coronavirus' on OkCupid profiles increased 32% between Mar and Dec of last year, and mentions of 'vaccine' increased 137% between Nov and Jan 2021. Young women are becoming more active and engaged. Recently, women under 30 on OkCupid sent 28.5% more first messages in Jan 2021 than they did the same time last year. 4 in 10 people would cancel a date with someone who didn't want to take the COVID-19 vaccine. When asked about their post-pandemic plans, daters were 12.4X more likely to say they’d like to find someone special rather than date around.
OkCupid Predicts August 1 as the Hottest Dating Day of the Year in UK
MASHABLE – Feb 23 – According to OkCupid, Aug. 1 will be "the hottest day for dating in 2021," after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to offer all UK adults the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 31. Vaccines are a hot topic among online daters at the moment, according to OkCupid data. The dating app reports a 137% increase in the mentions of 'vaccine' on OkCupid profiles between November 2020 and January 2021. 42% of OkCupid respondents said they'd cancel a date with someone who didn't want to take the vaccine.
The Rise of Borderless Dating
QUARTZ – Feb 16 – In the early days of the pandemic, Tinder users started teleporting themselves into other countries. The feature, normally available with Tinder's paid subscriptions, was so popular that the company made it free for everyone for a month. Bumble followed suit, giving users the option to set their location filters "nationwide". Location has started mattering less. Nicole Parlapiano, VP of marketing for North America at Tinder, also says that Gen Z has a more relaxed, open approach to dating. "I think the world's getting smaller. What matters is good interaction, good conversation. And you can jump on a plane, you can get in a car," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group, which owns streaming app MeetMe. OkCupid said in a blog post that since the start of the pandemic "connections and conversations across borders are up 50%, and people are setting their location preferences to 'anywhere' more than ever before.” ~1.5M users say they are open to a long-distance relationship. Dating coach and industry consultant Steve Dean said his clients have been more willing to widen their geographical perimeter during the pandemic. Eric Resnick, longtime online dating coach and industry consultant, is skeptical. "He wonders, how do you navigate a new online relationship? Are you exclusive, or do you also date locally?" "There's potential for it, but I think it's inherently risky," he said. "Nothing's real until you're in the same room at the same time as someone."
by Hanna Kozlowska
See full article at Quartz
See the top news on Tinder See the top news on The Meet Group
See the top news on Bumble See the top news on OkCupid
New Niche – A Dating App Only for the Vaccinated?
THE STAR – Feb 16 – Samantha Yammine, a scientist who often talks on Twitter about health issues, says she's received messages about "dudes on dating apps claiming they're 'totally safe for close contact' because they have received the vaccine. "Basically, getting the vaccine is the hottest thing you could be doing on a dating app right now," said Michael Kaye, global communications manager for OkCupid. 43% of ~1,500 members of another site, Coffee Meets Bagel, said they were right now more attracted to someone who had been vaccinated. For university student Brittany Biggerstaff, people who say they are vaccinated are not more attractive because of the shot – but it does mean they have put their faith in science. "It gives insight on a potential partner's political views and knowledge about science and medicine," she said. Dawoon Kang, the co-founder of Coffee Meets Bagel, agrees.
See the top news on OkCupid
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
TuneIn Partners with OkCupid to Launch Exclusive Dating-Themed Music Stations
OkCupid Gives an Inclusive Update to Valentine’s Day Cards
ADWEEK – Feb 2 – Dating app aims to celebrate all types of relationships and boost LGBTQ+ artists. OkCupid members can now download cards to send to friends and significant others, or share on social media.
How Match Group Grew to Dominate the Online Dating Market
BUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 2 – Match Group, which started as one lonely Stanford Business School graduate's attempt to build a less embarrassing way to find love online in the '90s, has turned into a titan that owns nearly every US dating site. Bumble, however, is conspicuously absent from Match's portfolio. Bumble's CEO, ex-Tinder executive Whitney Wolfe Herd, has a toxic history with the online dating group.
History of Match
- Match Group was founded in Feb 2009 after IAC decided to bundle all dating sites it owned.
- AC's initial purchase of Match.com dates back to the 1990s. Gary Kremen founded Match.com in 1995; he left in 1996 with just ~$50K.
- Ticketmaster bought Match.com in 1999 for $50M. Cendant Corporation bought the company a year earlier for $6M.
- During the 2000s, IAC chairman Barry Diller turned Match.com into one of the most successful online dating companies in the US.
- Jim Safka, a former ETrade and AT&T executive, took over as Match.com CEO in 2004.
- Revenue increased 68% between 2003 and 2006, going from $185M to $311M
- IAC acquired People Media for $80M in July 2009, with a combined 255K subscribers.
- 2011, Match Group acquired OkCupid for $50M.
- In January 2012, Hatch Labs, a startup "sandbox" launched by IAC to incubate mobile apps, hired Sean Rad as general manager. Rad worked with developer Joe Muñoz to create the prototype for Tinder. Jonathan Badeen and Chris Gulczynski were hired to help with front-end and design. Whitney Wolfe Herd was hired in May and Justin Mateen was brought in as a contractor. The app was originally called Match Box.
- August 2012, Match Box was renamed to "Tinder" and launched on Apple's App Store.
- By April 2013, Tinder officially incorporated, with Rad, Badeen, and Mateen considered the company's cofounders. Rad served as CEO.
- IAC later purchased another chunk of Tinder for ~$50M.
- In 2014, Wolfe Herd sued Tinder and IAC for sexual harassment and discrimination.
- In 2015, acquired POF for $575M, Match Group went public.
- By 2017, Tinder had merged under the Match Group umbrella.
- In 2018, Rad and nine other Tinder employees sued IAC, claiming IAC purposely undervalued the startup. The lawsuit sought $2B in damages.
- 2018, acquisition of Hinge.
- December 2019, IAC announced it was spinning off its stake in Match Group.
- Jan 2020, Match Group CEO of 14 years, Mandy Ginsberg, stepped down. Former Tinder COO Shar Dubey took over.
by Avery Hartmans & Allana Akhtar
See full article at Business Insider
Coffee Break With OkCupid’s PR Manager, Michael Kaye
PRWEEK – Jan 28 – The global comms and PR manager discussed romance amid the pandemic, comms plans for Valentine's Day and how 'vaccinated' is trending on dating profiles. "Our users are taking the pandemic seriously," he said. "People said they would cancel a date with someone who didn't want to wear a mask. And coming into 2021, getting vaccinated has become the hottest thing you can do on a dating app."