Category: Outlets &#8211; Tech Crunch

Tinder Launches Its Curated ‘Top Picks’ Feature Worldwide

Posted on September 13, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – Sep 11 – Earlier this summer, Tinder began testing a new feature that surfaces a curated list of users’ best potential matches, called “Top Picks.” The feature, which is only available to paying subscribers on Tinder Gold, is now available worldwide. The idea behind Top Picks seems a bit inspired by the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. While Top Picks will refresh daily, users can opt to buy more Top Picks in packs of 10, 20 or 30 a la carte.

by Anthony Ha
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Tinder & Match Lawsuit: Match Group’s Statement

Posted on August 15, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – Aug 14 – A group of Tinder founders and executives has filed a lawsuit against parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC. The plaintiffs in the suit include Tinder co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen who still works at Tinder, as do plaintiffs James Kim (the company's vice president of finance) and Rosette Pambakian (its vice president of marketing and communications). The suit alleges that IAC and Match Group manipulated financial data in order to create "a fake lowball valuation", then stripped Rad, Mateen, Badeen and others of their stock options. The lawsuit also alleges that Greg Blatt, the Match CEO who became CEO of Tinder, groped and sexually harassed Pambakian at the company's 2016 holiday party, supposedly leading the company to "whitewash" his actions long enough for him to complete the valuation of Tinder and its merger with Match Group, and then to announce his departure. The plaintiffs are asking for "compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but not less than $2B."

Match Group statement: The allegations in the complaint are meritless, and IAC and Match Group intend to vigorously defend against them. Match Group and the plaintiffs went through a rigorous, contractually – defined valuation process involving two independent global investment banks, and Mr. Rad and his merry band of plaintiffs did not like the outcome. Mr. Rad and Mr. Mateen may not like the fact that Tinder has experienced enormous success following their respective departures. Mr. Rad has a rich history of outlandish public statements, and this lawsuit contains just another series of them. We look forward to defending our position in court.

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Google To Clean Up Its Play Store

Posted on August 2, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – July 31 – Google is cracking down on the apps published to the Play Store. An updated version of the company's Developer Policy, released this week, indicates the company will now ban a wider variety of apps including cryptocurrency miners, those selling firearms and accessories, those that aim to trick children into downloading adult-themed apps, and apps built using automated tools or wizard services, or based on templates (only apps that are created by an automated tool and submitted to Google Play by the operator of that service on behalf of other persons are not allowed).

by Jordan Crook
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Tinder Loops Rolls Out Globally

Posted on July 6, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – July 5 – Tinder Loops, the recently announced video feature from Tinder, is today rolling out globally. Tinder has been testing this feature in Canada and Sweden since April, when it was first announced, and has rolled out to a few other markets since then. Loops are two-second, looping videos that can be posted to users' profiles. Users can't shoot Tinder Loops from within the app, but rather have to upload and edit existing videos in their camera roll or upload a Live Photo from an iOS device. Users who added a Loop to their profile saw that their average conversation length went up by 20%. The feature seems to be particularly effective in Japan with users receiving an average of 10% more right swipes if they had a Loop in their profile.

by Taylor Hatmaker
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Tinder Bolsters Its Security To Ward Off Hacks And Blackmail

Posted on July 2, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – June 30 – Tinder has responded to a letter from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden calling for the company to seal up security loopholes in its app that could lead to blackmail and other privacy incursions. Match Group General Counsel Jared Sine described recent changes to the app, noting that as of June 19, "swipe data has been padded such that all actions are now the same size." Sine added that images on the mobile app are fully encrypted as of February 6, while images on the web version of Tinder were already encrypted. The Tinder issues were first called out in a report by a research team at Checkmarx describing the app's "disturbing vulnerabilities' and their propensity for blackmail.

Tinder Takes On Coffee Meets Bagel With Test Of Tinder Picks

Posted on June 26, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – June 22 – Tinder will begin testing a new feature aimed at helping people find more matches who fit their particular interests across areas like education, job type, hobbies and other details. "Tinder Picks," as the new feature is being called, will be available only to Tinder Gold users. Tinder uses will organize users into groupings. For example, a "foodie" might earn that tag because they work in a restaurant, went to a top culinary school, or mentions food in their bio. Users will see their daily Picks by tapping the diamond on the top of the Discovery screen. Tinder Picks refresh every 24 hours, but Tinder Gold users can opt to buy more at any time, the company says. Tinder says Picks is live now in the U.K., Germany, Brazil, France, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Sweden, Russia and the Netherlands. It will see how users respond over the next few days, then evaluate whether to roll out the feature more broadly.

Crown, A New App From Match Group, Turns Dating Into A Game

Posted on June 17, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – June 16 – Crown is the latest dating app from Match Group, thought up by Match Product Manager Patricia Parker, who met her husband online. Crown won Match Group's internal "ideathon," and was then developed in-house by a team of millennial women, with a goal of serving women's needs in particular. Every day at noon, users are presented with 16 curated matches, picked by some mysterious algorithm. They move through the matches by choosing who they like more between two people at a time. The screen displays two photos instead of one, and users "crown" their winner. This process then repeats with two people shown at a time, until they reach their "Final Four." Those winners are then given the opportunity to chat, or they can choose to pass. Crown has been live in a limited beta for a few months, but is now officially launched in L.A. with more cities to come. The app is a free download on iOS only for now. An Android version is coming, the website says.

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by Danny Crichton
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M17 Delays IPO Debut After Pricing This Morning On NYSE

Posted on June 8, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – June 7 – M17 Entertainment, a Taipei-based live streaming and dating app group, priced its IPO this morning on the NYSE and was expected to open trading today. But with just a little more than two hours to go before market closing, it's still not trading, and no one seems to know why. M17 has had a rocky non-debut so far. Originally targeting a fundraise of $115M of American Depository Receipts (shares of foreign companies listed domestically on the NYSE), the company concluded its roadshow raising less than half of its target, for a final investment of $60.1M. The company priced its ADR shares at $8 each. The company's main product is a live-streaming product where creators can build their fan bases and brands. Fans can purchase virtual gifts to send to their favorite artists.

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by Ingrid Lunden
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Badoo To Drop Swiping

Posted on June 6, 2018

TECH CRUNCH – June 6 – Badoo, a UK-based dating app with ~388M users globally – whose majority-owned app Bumble is currently being sued by Tinder in part for its use of swiping – says that it will be removing the swiping from its own app. Badoo is rolling out a new feature called Badoo Live which are live video broadcasts to let people show off their personalities. Users will be able to send messages during a live session, which works on a principle similar to Facebook Live. Once a match is made, users can start a live video chat with each other.

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