BUSINESS INSIDER UK – Dec 10 – Ariella Young, the CEO of Mychefit, a platform that sends chefs to cook in your home, has recruited two chefs through Tinder so far and she's looking for more. "I was using Tinder for dating and then I saw some profiles where they were wearing aprons," said Young. "I approach them and ask if they're a chef, before explaining that I'm interested in hiring them." So far she's managed to successfully hire two chefs via Tinder.
Category: Outlets – Business Insider
Happn Can’t Be Used For Stalking, Says The Dating App’s CEO
Dating App Happn Is Adding 1.2M Users A Month
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 21 – Mobile dating app Happn is growing like crazy and is rolling out new features including voice messages. The app, which launched in Paris in 2014, connects people who have crossed paths in real life. Happn now has 8M users worldwide. The app is gaining 1.2M users a month.
The Grade Dating App Wants To Be Yelp For Online Dating
BUSINESS INSIDER – Oct 12 - The Grade is a dating app that lets users submit reviews of people they've dated. The app launched last year, and in its first iteration, it relied on an algorithm to weed out the worst people. But feedback from women led The Grade's team to the idea of letting people dictate the rating. The ratings won't allow any text, only "yes/no" to given questions. The Grade then takes the sum of all these "yes/no" answers to generate a grade (A-F).
A Former Ashley Madison CTO Wants To Sue A Journalist Who Says He Hacked Nerve.com
BUSINESS INSIDER – Sep 10 – Raja Bhatia, former AM CTO, is threatening to sue tech blogger Brian Krebs who published a story titled "Leaked AshleyMadison Emails Suggest Execs Hacked Competitors." Bhatia, who left Avid Life Media in 2009, denies the claims. Krebs reported that in Nov 2012, Bhatia told Biderman that he had discovered a "huge security hole" in Nerve.com. He said that he had "access to all their user records including emails, encrypted password, if they purchased or not, who they talked to, what their search preferences are, last login, fraud risk profile, who they blocked or are blocked from, photo uploads, etc."
Grindr’s Revenue Expected To Reach $38M
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 27 – This month, hackers of AshleyMadison.com began to leak internal company data online, which also includes sensitive documents and the emails of CEO Noel Biderman. Included within Biderman's email correspondence is a "Management Presentation" for Grindr, created in June 2015. Accoring to the presentation, Grindr is expected to generate $38.1M this year. By the end of 2018, it predicts annual revenues ~$77M. Grindr claims that the average daily time its users spend on the app is 54 minutes daily, compared to Facebook's 42.1 minutes.
by Rob Price
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The Japanese Are Clueless About Online Dating
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 4 – In the face of a serious population decline, Japan hasn't got a clue when it comes to online dating. According to a 2012 report by Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the number of Japanese people will fall from 127M to around 87M by 2060. Many Japanese still view online dating as a scam. One bright spot for online dating in Japan is the rise of social media. Many dating apps now require a Facebook login, which helps reassure users that the person they're speaking with is real.
Tinder Could Be Worth Up To $3 Billion
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 31 – In June, IAC announced that it would pursue an IPO for less than 20% of common stock of The Match Group which includes Tinder, Match, OKCupid as well as The Princeton Review. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch valued Tinder at $1.35B. But using the average of peer subscription services, BAML says a bullish scenario could result in Tinder revenue of $250M and a $3B valuation. They estimated a value of $27 per user for the app’s 50M users — thus leading to a valuation of $1.35B. However, they added that this estimate is below the $33 per user Facebook paid for Instagram, and the $42 per user they paid for WhatsApp. Analysts at Oppenheimer estimated that Tinder’s US paid user base grew 80% from Q1, while it’s international paid users grew 70%. Tinder could have ~500K paid subscribers.
How Match.com’s Founder Walked Away With $50K
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 15 – In 1994, when only ~5% of Americans had Internet, Gary Kremen took a $2,500 advance on his credit card to buy the domain name Match.com. Today, Match is one of the most-visited dating sites in the country. According to comScore, it attracted ~6M unique visitors in May 2015. 2 years after founding the company, Kremen walked away with just $50K. In 1993. Kremen was paying $2.99 per minute on 900-number dating services. He found it inefficient so he founded Electric Classifies, an online personals database. Late in 1994, he secured ~$1.5M in funding. Match went live in April 1995. Deepak Kamra, the lead VC at Canaan Partners responsible for the Match investment, said the early content was “borderline porn.” The VCs had serious doubts about Kremen’s management skills. They removed Kremen from the CEO post in mid-1995.
Ashley Madison Reconsidering London IPO
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 4 - Ashley Madison revealed that it could abandon its London IPO, which was estimated to raise £135M ($200M) because it has potentially found a "better option." "We don't want to rush and make a mistake, but we are looking to commit to a decision around August," said Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media which owns Ashley Madison.
by Lianna Brinded
See full article at Business Insider