Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch

Digital Identity Startup Yoti Raises £8M

Posted on August 3, 2019

Yoti logoTECH CRUNCH – Aug 2 – Yoti, the London startup offering a digital identity platform and app that lets users prove who they say they are when accessing services or making age-verified purchases, has raised £8M in additional funding. The startup had raised £65M in total since being founded in 2014. Yoti has formed a variety of partnerships including Heathrow Airport, which is working with Yoti to explore biometric travel for passengers; NCR, which is using Yoti to improve age-verification at self-checkouts; and Yubo, which is deploying Yoti to verify the age of users and to "safeguard" young people online.

by Steve O'Hear
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

Muzmatch Raised $7M

Posted on July 26, 2019

Muzmatch iconTECH CRUNCH – July 26 – Muzmatch, a matchmaking app for Muslims, has just raised a $7M Series A. The app has now ~1.5M users, across 210 countries. The funding will help fuel growth in key international markets, is jointly led by US hedge fund Luxor Capital, and Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator – the latter having previously selected Muzmatch for its summer 2017 batch of startups. Last year the team also took in a $1.75M seed. The team has grown from four people seven months ago to 17 now. With the Series A the plan is to further expand headcount to almost 30. Muzmatch was already profitable two years ago.

by Natasha Lomas
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

Tinder’s New Security Feature Protects LGBTQ+ Users in Hostile Nations

Posted on July 25, 2019

Tinder security updateTECH CRUNCH – July 24 – Users who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer on Tinder will no longer automatically appear on the app when they arrive in an oppressive state. This feature, called Traveler Alert, relies on users' phone network connection to determine its location. From there it will give users the choice to keep their location private. If users opt-in to make their profile public again, Tinder will hide their sexual orientation or gender identity from their profile to safeguard the information from law enforcement and others who may target them. There are 69 countries that consider same-sex acts illegal. Nine of the countries, including Iran, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia allow for prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against same-sex acts and relationships.

by Zack Whittaker
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Facebook Settles With FTC: $5B and New Privacy Guarantees

Posted on July 25, 2019

Ftc settlement with fbTECH CRUNCH – July 24 – The Federal Trade Commission was investigating Facebook over privacy lapses. The regulator has officially announced the terms of its settlement with Facebook: $5B (as previously rumored) and improved privacy oversight within the company. In addition to the money, Facebook will have to create a board committee on privacy, and must provide executive assurance that user data is being respected.

by Devin Coldewey & Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch

Bumble CEO Responds to Reports of Misconduct at Parent Company

Posted on July 10, 2019

Bumble whitney wolfe july 19TECH CRUNCH – July 10 – Following an extensive report in Forbes about Bumble's parent company and its billionaire founder Andrey Andreev, the female-first dating app's founder Whitney Wolfe Herd has issued a statement. She says she was "mortified by the allegations" and "saddened and sickened to hear that anyone, of any gender, would ever be made to feel marginalized or mistreated in any capacity at their workplace." The allegations went beyond portraying a sexist work environment and detailed racist attitudes of the Badoo founder.

by Lucas Matney
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Apple Reveals App Store Takedown Demands by Governments

Posted on July 4, 2019

Appstore logoTECH CRUNCH – July 4 – For the first time, Apple has published the number of requests it's received from governments to take down apps from its app store. In its latest transparency report, published Tuesday, Apple said it received 80 requests from 11 countries to remove 634 apps from its app stores during July 1 to December 31, 2018. Apple didn't list the apps that were removed, but noted in most cases why the apps were pulled. China made up the bulk of the requests, seeking to remove 517 apps claiming they violated its gambling and pornography laws. Vietnam and Austria also requested the removal of several apps that violated its gambling laws, while Kuwait asked Apple to pull some apps that fell afoul of its privacy laws. Apple said it received 29,183 demands from governments – down ~10% on the last reporting period – to access 213,737 devices in the second half of last year. Apple also received 4,875 requests for account data, such as information stored in iCloud – up by 16% on the previous reporting period – affecting 22,503 accounts.

by Zack Whittaker
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App Revenue Tops $39B in H1 2019, up 15% YOY

Posted on July 4, 2019

2019-app-revenue-worldwideTECH CRUNCH – July 4 – According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the iOS App Store and Google Play combined brought in $39.7B in worldwide app revenue in the first half of 2019, up 15.4% over the $34.4B seen during the H1 2018. However, at that time, the $34.4B was a 27.8% YOY increase. Apple's App Store continues to massively outpace Google Play on consumer spending, the report also found. In H1 2019, global consumers spent $25.5B on the iOS App Store, up 13.2% YOY. It is 80% higher than Google Play. #1 App Tinder pulled in ~$497M across the iOS App Store and Google Play, combined. That's up 32% YOY.

by Sarah Perez
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Spark Networks Closes Its $258M Acquisition of Zoosk

Posted on July 2, 2019

Sparknetworks zoosk logosTECH CRUNCH – July 2 – Berlin-based Spark Networks, the owner of Christian Mingle, Jdate, LDSsingles, Silver Singles, JSwipe and others, has acquired Zoosk for a combination of cash and stock. The deal values Zoosk at ~$258M. Spark says it will issue 12,980,000 American Depositary Shares (ADS) to former Zoosk shareholders valued at $153M based on the closing price of Spark ADS of $11.78 on June 28, 2019. Zoosk has for a long time struggled to compete against Tinder. A few years ago, the company laid off a third of its staff and even had to call off its IPO. According to data from Sensor Tower, Zoosk has generated worldwide in-app revenue of $250M and has seen 38M downloads since January 2014. In Q1 2019, Zoosk revenue was flat at $13M, the firm also says. Tinder revenue, by comparison, grew 43%. Zoosk's current CEO Steven McArthur is departing Zoosk following the deal, but will join Spark's board of directors.

by Sarah Perez
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Bumble Now Lets Users Call Their Matches Without Exchanging Numbers

Posted on July 1, 2019

Bumble video chat voice callsTECH CRUNCH – June 29 – The feature is double opt-in, meaning users won't get a video call from some rando the second that they match with them. Instead, users will see an icon inside their chat that they can tap on to enable the features that move beyond text. Bumble parent company MagicLab plans to bring voice and video calls to its other dating apps (Badoo, Chappy, Lumen) as well.

by Lucas Matney
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HER, the Dating App for Queer Women, Revamps Profiles

Posted on June 26, 2019

Her new profile 2019TECH CRUNCH – June 26 – The updated profiles allow users to express themselves more fully in the categories of gender, sexuality, pronouns, diet preferences, star signs, drinking, smoking and cannabis habits, among others. HER has also added space for a text bio, which is very common on other dating apps but wasn't a part of Her. HER launched four years ago, rebranded from Dattch, with the intent to give queer women a space to safely and freely express themselves and meet each other. The app has 4.5M registered users, and has raised $2.5M in funding.

by Jordan Crook
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