BUSINESS INSIDER – Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel is reportedly pouring $1.5M into "The Right Stuff", a dating app for conservatives. John McEntee, Trump's former political aide, is behind the project. It will launch first in Washington DC this summer and will initially be invite-only.
by Katie Canales
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INSIDER – Gary Swidler, Match Group's CFO and COO, said summer 2022 could finally be "that summer of love." Swidler made the comment during an earnings call, but clarified his projection in the Q&A. He said that Match Group anticipates daters to return to pre-Omicron habits, but not pre-pandemic behaviors once Omicron's impact fades.
BUSINESS INSIDER – MatchGroup is suing Muslim-oriented dating startup Muzmatch in the UK. Match accused Muzmatch of "free-riding" off its reputation, alleging the app copied the look and feel of its logo and apps and used the word "Match" and "Tinder" in its SEO and meta tags to boost traffic. It claims users could confuse Muzmatch for its own services. Match Group has previously sued Bumble and threesome app 3nder, now called Feeld. Muzmatch's founder Shahzad Younas claimed Match's legal action came after he turned down four acquisition offers from Match in 2018 and 2019. When acquisition talks failed, Match purchased a different Muslim dating app, and sued his firm, the filings stated. The two-day UK trial took place on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18, and the judge expects a decision will be made in six weeks.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 11 – Virtual dates became an acceptable way of dating. In 2020 OKCupid rolled out its redesign globally called Stacks which is a new matching system that consolidates multiple discovery methods into one, making it even easier to find the type of person users are looking for.
Anukool Kumar is Marketing Director for OkCupid in India: We've seen women discovering their independence and extending that security to choosing relationships that see them as more than just a horoscope or radius of a roti. More women are opening conversations. The new Stacks discovery experience shows matches in a focused, thoughtful way, and gives daters the choice of dating 'online', 'recommended' (a stack of recommendations based on preferences), 'nearby', and 'match %'. Globally, there's been a 30% increase in messages sent. since 2020. OkCupid has 20 sexual orientations, 22 gender options and over 60 identities, making it truly inclusive.
BUSINESS INSIDER – June 30 – The Canadian relationship app Couply won the 2021 pitch competition hosted by Collision, a Toronto-based technology conference attended by thousands of industry giants. Founded by Tim Johnson and Denesh Raymond, Couply is a free relationship app designed to inspire couples to deepen their connection with fun features like personality quizzes, which then help aid the process of planning dates that are mutually enjoyable. Since its launch in December of 2020, Couply has grown from a few downloads a day to 1K downloads a week, with its daily download rate doubling each month as a result of word of mouth.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 23 – A Morning Consult poll said 49% of US adults feel safe going on a date right now. Men in the survey felt ten percentage points more comfortable dating at the moment than women. 54% of men in the US said they would feel comfortable dating right now compared to 44% of women who said the same.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 12 – Hinge had a surprisingly successful 2020. CEO Justin McLeod expects to see more users looking for long-term relationships. He also thinks quick, preliminary video dates will become a permanent part of dating, post-pandemic. According to Hinge's Q4 2020 results, the company tripled its revenues compared with 2019. Its global downloads rose by 63%. Hinge's growth outstripped Tinder, Badoo, Bumble, Happn, and Plenty of Fish.
by Isobel Asher Hamilton
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INSIDER – Mar 11 – 15M more Chinese singles have opted to live alone over the last 3 years. This phenomenon could hurt China's birth rate, according to a People.cn article. Debate is swirling around whether these singles are doing so by choice, or due to circumstances beyond their control. Chinese news site Dazhong did a poll to find out. 41% of those polled cited the main reason as being "actively choosing to be single, and tiring of useless romantic entanglements." Another 38% said being an "empty nest youth" was also a choice made by those "escaping from the responsibilities of starting a family." 13% said that they were forced to live alone due to "life and economic pressures," while 7% said it was because they were "unable to find true love."