Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch

Paktor Moves Into Live-streaming Via Merger Deal

Posted on April 27, 2017

Paktor logo new jan 16TECH CRUNCH – Apr 26 – Dating app Paktor, 'The Tinder of Southeast Asia,' is moving into live-streaming and media content after it announced a merger deal with Taiwanese startup 17 Media. Paktor currently offers four dating apps – core service Paktor and acquired apps Down, Kickoff and Goodnight – while 17 Media's runs its 17 live-streaming app, photo social network Swag and video group chat service Lit. The new entity is expecting ~$100M in annual revenue and 50M users. The list of established companies moving into streaming is nearly endless. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Momo, and fast-growing Kuaishou among others.

by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch

Update: M17 has raised an undisclosed amount in investment from Korean VC firm KTB Network as part of a larger round, which is due to close in a few weeks.

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Available On Desktop

Posted on March 29, 2017

Tinder desktopTECH CRUNCH – Mar 28 – Tinder is launching Tinder Online, a web-optimized version of the dating app so people can Tinder at their desktops. Tinder Online doesn't include any of Tinder's revenue features like Tinder Boost or Super Like, for now. Head of Product at Tinder, Brian Norgard, says that Tinder Online is meant to serve users in emerging markets who don't have enough storage on their phone or a big enough data plan for Tinder's image-heavy feed. It's also meant to offer Tinder power users the option to do their swiping and messaging on desktop, which is far easier on power users than a mobile app. Tinder has always been a native mobile app, first on iOS and then on Android. But the company now serves 196 countries across the world, and is learning to be flexible when it comes to giving people options about how they use Tinder. Tinder is currently testing Tinder Online in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, and Sweden, with plans to launch everywhere 'soon'.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Coffee Meets Bagel Introduces $35/month Premium Membership To Fight Ghosting

Posted on March 22, 2017

Coffeemeetsbagel-premium-package-screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – Mar 22 – Coffee Meets Bagel, the dating site that focuses on high-quality, limited matches, has today announced the launch of its premium service. One of the biggest features is Activity Reports, which show stats on a user's profile about % of times they engage in chats with connections, % of the time they send the first message, whether or not they've been active in the last 72 hours, and a marker for how long it usually takes that person to respond to messages. Premium members will also see read receipts for messages they've sent.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

Irena Brooks: Dating app The League has also recently introduced "the read receipts" feature to its premium members.

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

The League Wants To End Ghosting

Posted on March 20, 2017

The league logoTECH CRUNCH – Mar 18 – The exclusive dating app adds "read receipts", a new feature that could help the paid members to figure out if someone's deliberately ignoring them or if they just haven't opened the app in a while. The League membership costs $179.99/year and includes features like profile feedback and access to more potential matches.

by Anthony Ha
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Select Is For Celebrities And Attractive People

Posted on March 8, 2017

Tinder selectTECH CRUNCH – Mar 8 – Tinder has been operating a members-only version of the platform called Tinder Select, which is for only the elite users on the app, including CEOs, super models, and other affluent types.Tinder has invited people to the platform, some of whom have the ability to 'nominate' others. But those who were nominated can't nominate anyone else, which prevents the members-only layer of the app from spreading uncontrollably. It's unclear exactly how Tinder decides who gets invited and who doesn't. One factor that might be included in the Tinder Select criteria could be the Tinder Elo score, which is an algorithmic rating system across all Tinder users. Tinder Select has been around for almost six months. This isn't the first time a dating app has tried to serve its top users. There is Raya and The League. Bumble is relaunching its VIBee "verified" tier which rewards users who make a positive contribution to the Bumble community.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on Tinder              See all posts on Bumble
See all posts on The League      See all posts on Raya

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

How The M14 Industries Dragons’ Den Deal Collapsed

Posted on March 7, 2017

M14 industries logoTECH CRUNCH – Mar 7 – M14 Industries was pitching its dating and social app-building platform for an investment of £80k for 15% equity. The M14 founder chose to accept a combined offer from Jenkins and Jones of £80k for 20% equity, giving the young startup a £400k pre-money valuation. Later, M14 was approached by one of its larger clients who had learned that the startup was preparing to take more investment and asked if they could be part of the deal. The unnamed client was willing to invest at a £1.5M pre-valuation, up significantly from the Dragons' Den £400k valuation. But agreeing to 20% in the Den, then closing at 6% a few months later, would cause trouble down the line for the show, and possibly lead to people not taking future deals in the Den seriously. So the deal collapsed. In a final, and perhaps, ironic twist of fate, the unnamed investor would also go on to pull out of the deal in favour of simply remaining a customer. However, M14 Industries closed ∼ £100k with other investors, at a far better valuation, the fonders say.

by Steve O'Hear
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

MeetMe Acquires If(we), Parent Company Of Tagged And Hi5

Posted on March 7, 2017

Meetme ifwe logosTECH CRUNCH – Mar 7 – The deal is worth $60M in cash, partially funded by a $30M loan from JP Morgan. Tagged and Hi5 will both remain their own distinct brands. If(we) reported $44M revenue in 2016, with 56% coming from mobile and claimed to have 5.4M MAU, with 18k new users coming every day. The company managed to raise $28.7M. After the merger, the combined company will have 10.6M MAU and nearly 1.1M DAU. MeetMe expects If(we) to add $9M to its earnings over the next 12 months.

by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Hater Dating App Will Expand Beyond Dating

Posted on February 28, 2017

Hater welcome screenTECH CRUNCH – Feb 28 – Hater founder and CEO Brendan Alper says the idea for the app came up a year and a half ago, but he hadn't envisioned it as being a real product at the time. Instead, Alper, a former Goldman Sachs employee, had left the banking biz to pursue his passion in writing comedy. Hater was originally going to be a part of an online comedy sketch. But the more he talked about it, the more it seemed like the app might actually have real appeal. The app connects people based on their dislikes. Hater now has 310k users and 30k+ daily active users. Alper is planning the expansion to social, more Facebook ad tests and a partnership with Cosmo, which will publish stats pulled from the app. Brands are also talking to Hater about future integrations, which could see them being able to place their own items into the app's list, then analyze the results of who likes and hates those topics.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Users Spent More On Apps In 2016

Posted on February 22, 2017

Revenue-per-iphone-2016-heroTECH CRUNCH – Feb 22 – The amount of money U.S. users are spending on iPhone apps is steadily climbing. Entertainment apps saw consumers' average spending increase by 130% YOY. The Social Networking category increased from $1.80 to $2. This is also where you can find Tinder. Tinder was also one of the top apps by revenue last year. However, the category that contributes the most to App Store's bottom line continues to be games. U.S. iPhone owners spent ~ $27 per device on games last year, up from $25 in 2015.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Acquires Wheel, An App For Snapchat-like Videos

Posted on February 16, 2017

Wheel screenshotTECH CRUNCH – Feb 16 – Tinder is acquiring an L.A.-based startup called Wheel, which had developed a social network for sharing Snapchat-like videos. Wheel was originally founded in 2015, when it was then called Ferris. The company had raised $2M in 2015. However, Wheel did not became a breakout success. According to data from App Annie, the app was ranked #574 in the Photo & Video category on the App Store. Following the acquisition, Wheel's founding team will join Tinder, including CEO Paul Boukadakis, CTO Chris Shaheen, Joey Boukadakis and Brian Daugherty. Boukadakis will be VP of Special Initiatives at Tinder, and Shaheen will be a senior engineer. Tinder did not share what specific plans it had for video.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team