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."
Category: Outlets – Business Insider
Taru Kapoor, Tinder: Word-of-mouth Has Helped us Grow in India
BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 2 – According to Statista, dating apps generated $323M in revenues in India in 2020. The Indian market ranks second in the dating apps segment, followed by the US. Since its launch in India in 2o15, Tinder has been able to find a loyal user base in India, and Taru Kapoor, General Manager, India, Tinder feels word-of-mouth has played an important role. "Our focus right now is leading with innovation. The first phase of innovation over the last five years was how it became a norm to find someone online. The second phase which is happening now is actually led by GenZ who have grown up on social Internet. The task is how do we help people have better shared experiences online, how do we entertain them, help them get to know each other better and have a shared context so that those connections become more meaningful and deeper."
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
Aisle Launches ‘One by Two’ Campaign
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jan 18 – Aisle‘s new campaign, ‘One by Two’, celebrates the Indian-way of romance. The videos explore the first date jitters of a young couple and highlight how sharing is the Indian way of romance. Aisle is an app that connects people of Indian-origin from around the world, who are looking for serious relationships. Over the last two quarters, Aisle saw more downloads than Bumble and became the second most popular dating app in India.
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd’s Letter
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jan 18 – Whitney Wolfe Herd, who cofounded rival dating app Tinder, launched Bumble in 2014. In a letter accompanying Bumble's S-1 paperwork, Herd celebrated Bumble's women-first approach as well as "1.7B first moves made by women." You can read the full letter here.
10 Fastest Growing Emojis on Tinder in 2020
One-third of the Latest Chinese Mobile Apps Banned by India Are Dating Apps
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 24 – The Indian government has banned another 43 Chinese apps from operating in India. Fifteen of these apps are dating services, including lesbian social network, Rela, AsianDate, DateMyAge, etc. The Indian government may be wary of Indian Army soldiers or officials being 'honey trapped'. Honey trapping is when agents from a foreign country pose as a pretty, young woman to seduce unsuspecting targets into inadvertently sharing confidential information.
There Is a Dating App For Tesla Owners
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 21 – A techie in Canada is launching a dating app exclusively for owners of Tesla cars. It is called Tesla Dating. The idea came about after app creator Ajitpal Grewal noticed that Tesla owners couldn't stop talking about their cars. The app is still in the "early stages" of development. Since launching the website last week, ~160 people have signed up for the app's waitlist.
More People Are Having Virtual Affairs as Covid-19 Pandemic Wears On
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 15 – Coronavirus pandemic-related stress is a risk factor that could drive people to cheat, according to two University of Tennessee Knoxville psychologists. Kristina Coop Gordon and Erica A. Mitchell said pandemic-related stress is straining relationships, driving people onto dating apps. According to data Gordon and Mitchell obtained from a dating site for married people (they didn't disclose which site), 17K new people have signed up for the services every day during the pandemic. This compares to the 1,500 daily new member sign-ups in 2019.
More People Are Talking About Politics on Dating Apps
INSIDER – July 15 – But a majority of people find it to be a huge turn off according to a new survey by Dating.com. The platform saw a 43% increase in users discussing politics. However, over half said they would consider ghosting someone if they brought up politics. 84% of respondents said they would never consider dating someone with opposing political views. The company surveyed 2K of its members in the US.