FAST COMPANY – Grindr reported 2022 earnings of $195M, a YOY growth of 34%, and expects its revenue to grow by 25% in 2023. The app also reported an increase in monthly average users to ~12M and paying users grew to 873,000 from 703,000 YOY. Grindr's CEO, George Arison, says that the company is looking at launching a lower subscription tier and improving its monetization by optimizing pricing segments better. The company is also adding more features to its app to convert non-paying users to paid or partly paid offerings. Despite the decline in Grindr's stock price since its debut in November, Arison is confident that the stock price "will take care of itself" as the company continues to show growth potential.
Category: Outlets – Fast Company
Hinge Is Rolling out Its $50 per Month Subscription Today
Facebook Groups Became the New Matchmaker
FAST COMPANY – Burned out on dating apps, singles are turning to Facebook's private Groups. Depending on the group, users will share pictures of themselves or of a friend who is looking for a relationship, and then will field the responses. Date Him New York, for example, has amassed 2K members since its creation in August.
Forging Connections Inside “The Fourth Place”
Tech Startups to Watch in 2022
FAST COMPANY – Dating app SoSyncd is one of the top 15 tech startups to watch this year, according to FastCompany. Founded in 2021 by sisters Jessica and Louella Alderson, SoSyncd has a different approach that leans on science. Instead of swipe-right-swipe-left routine, SoSyncd' app matches people based on their Myers-Briggs Personality Type, which is derived from a five-minute test. SoSyncd then matches people who might have some commonalities. The company says it already has ~100K users.
Ghosting on Dating App Snack Will Make Users Invisible
FAST COMPANY – Snack, a video-centric service that pitches itself as TikTok meets Tinder, says people who ghost too frequently will become less visible on its platform. Users who ghost other users too frequently can be reported for doing so, Snack says, and if the behavior keeps up, the visibility of their profile will be reduced over time. Snack launched early last year with $3.5M in pre-seed investment led by Kindred Ventures and Coelius Capital. The Vancouver-based company was founded by Kimberly Kaplan, a dating-app veteran and former executive at Plenty of Fish, now owned by Match Group.
How Background Check Startup Garbo Protects Online Dating Users
FAST COMPANY – Aug 10 – Kathryn Kosmides's experience leaving an abusive relationship inspired her to create an easy way for people to find out more about who they're dating. She created the nonprofit background check platform Garbo, which allows individuals to access public records of violent crimes for a nominal fee. With just a first name and phone number, Garbo users can look up records for someone they've matched with on an online dating app. Following a seven-figure investment by Match Group in March, Garbo's technology will be piloted on Tinder later this year. Garbo doesn't disclose sensitive personal details like home addresses when users search for a record. The platform already filters out non-violent offenses like marijuana possession and minor traffic violations.
Bumble’s NYC Restaurant Debut Delayed
Bumble Survey Reveals Summer Dating Habits
FAST COMPANY – June 17 – People are looking to date IRL again, but their priorities have changed, according to the latest survey data from Bumble, 30% said they would not date or have sex with an unvaccinated person. 65% now think it's possible to fall in love without meeting someone in person, 38% prefer to go on virtual first dates with people before meeting them in person.
How Match’s Black and Hispanic Dating Apps Are Helping Close the Vaccine Gap
