BUSINESS INSIDER – May 20 – After establishing online furniture site Zanui in Australia, founder Dean Kelly went to San Fran and met his future business partner, Justin Parfitt, who at the time was working on high-end speed dating events called Fast Impressions which he later sold to POF. They launched HeyLets after they wondered why they were reading negative reviews about experiences from people they had nothing in common with. The founders recently closed $1.65M in seed funding from Blue Sky Ventures and a handful of angel investors. The app startup is aiming to raise its series A round in the next three to six months. There have been ~100K downloads to date and an Android version is on the way. Built for mobile, users upload a photo and 200 characters about an experience they enjoyed, rather than a review of a place so it focuses on recommendations.
Category: Outlets – Business Insider
Happn Wants To Reach 10M Members This Year
BUSINESS INSIDER – May 18 - Happn is a new app that shows users other users with whom they've physically crossed paths with throughout the day. Happn's founder and CEO says it's all about replicating the serendipity of real life. Happn got its start in Paris, but has since expanded to 3M registered users in London and New York City. The app has raised ~$8M, and expects to reach 10M members by the end of this year.
Tinder Would Be Worth $1.6B As A Standalone Business
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 2 – JMP Securities analysis says that Tinder would be worth ~$1.6B as a standalone business, 20% of IAC's market cap. JMP is also optimistic about the number of users who will start paying for Tinder. It says that monetisation from Tinder could become 5% of IAC's revenue in 2016, bringing in $121M from subscriptions. JMP also predicts that 2.2% of Tinder users will pay for Tinder Plus by 2016. Tinder could bring in $70M in ad revenue by 2016.
The Inner Circle – EU Equivalent To US App “The League”
BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 25 – London dating app and website "The Inner Circle" bills itself as a platform for "high-end" community. The Inner Circle has a strict invite-only policy that includes a thorough screening upon registration. The site just launched in London after setting up in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Stockholm and Amsterdam, where it was founded. So far, 50K people have been approved; there's a waiting list of far more.
The League’s Has Now 100,000 People On The Waitlist
BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 4 - The League is a new, exclusive dating app that only lets in the "most interesting" singles. The only way to get in is by applying to a long waitlist that's approaching 100K people, or with a VIP pass from someone who's already a member. A League member or employee recently posted a listing on Craigslist, offering a VIP ticket for $100. The listing has been pulled by the company. The app raised $2.1M.
The League: The World’s Most Exclusive Dating App
BUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 26 - The League is a new dating app that uses its own algorithm to judge whether members are cool and ambitious enough to join. Right now it's in beta stage, so not everyone can get into it. Current members have all been carefully selected by creator Amanda Bradford's team using the code. It's predominantly populated by doctors, lawyers, and tech execs. What sets The League apart from its counterparts is its reliance on LinkedIn to determine user credentials. The League just raised $2.1M in funding. It's soon to expand to New York and there are plans to move to London too.
Happn, The Dating App That ‘Takes Stalking To A New Level’
BUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 10 - Happn is the latest addition to the app-based dating scene. It secured $8M, and now boasts ~2M downloads and 700K active monthly users. Around a third of those are in London. Happn uses GPS to connect users who cross paths within a 250 metre radius. There’s no swiping. If users want to grab someone’s attention they can send a “charm.” A small fee is involved for men who want to send out charms. Happn is already in Paris, London, New York, Sydney, and parts of South America, and the team wants to see it expand internationally in the next year or so.
Bumble Has Better Initial Traction Than Tinder, Witney Wolfe Says
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jan 28 – In August, Whitney Wolfe was in the middle of a very-public sexual harassment lawsuit with Tinder, which is now valued at ~ $750M. She says she came up with the name and initially promoted it on college campuses. She was given a cofounder title. One person who reached out to Wolfe after the lawsuit was Andrey Andreev, the co-founder of Badoo. Now he’s partnered with her on a new dating app that resembles Tinder, Bumble. They recruited another Tinder co-founder who departed, Chris Gulzcynski, and Tinder’s former VP of Design, Sarah Mick. Bumble, like Tinder, uses profile swiping to match single people in the same town. But on Bumble, women are forced to make the first move. Wolfe says the initial traction is even better than Tinder’s was, with ~100K downloads in a little over one month and high user engagement.
by Alyson Shontell
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Tinder’s Success Has Boosted eHarmony
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 26 – Grant Langston, VP, brand marketing at eHarmony says competition from apps like Tinder has helped his business. “Since Tinder launched in Australia we’ve seen a surge in subscriptions. The press they are receiving is bringing lots of people to the online dating world” he said. Tinder’s spike in popularity in Australia this year has saw user numbers on eHarmony’s website increase by 20%. In the US, the largest area of growth has been in the 23-33 age group; Australia has experienced a similar trend,” he said.
Cuddlr: The App That’s About Cuddling
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 20 - Cuddlr app has been questioned a lot since it launched worldwide in Sep. Some criticise it for being male-dominated, while others have complained of meeting up for a cuddle, only to be stood up. According to Cuddlr's co-founder, Charlie Williams, the app has been downloaded 214K times and saw ~9K "cuddles" in the first week of launch. Cuddlr works like Tinder. People connect the app to their Facebook profile, and the app shares the first name and pictures of cuddle candidates within walking distance. Users tap the picture to request a cuddle.