TECH CRUNCH – Aug 20 – Earlier this year, trans people reported that they were getting banned from using Tinder. What seemed to be happening was that transphobic people were reporting those transgender users on the app. "Everyone is welcome on Tinder," said Tinder spokesperson. Still, Tinder only offers two options for gender identification: male and female. Thurst, which is currently in beta, hopes to launch early next year.
Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch
MissTravel Lets Beautiful Women Find A Sponsor For Their Vacation
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 15 - MissTravel initially launched as a dating site two and a half years ago, the first in the "travel dating space," according to founder Brandon Wade, who is behind sugar daddy sites SeekingArrangement.com and WhatsYourPrice.com. Tinder launched a "Passport" feature earlier this year. But MissTravel, which just launched its mobile app last week, is taking the concept a step further. Users can post trips, and choose from three options: "I Have an Extra Ticket," "Take Me Along,"or "I Have My Own Ticket." According to Wade, MissTravel provides an optional verification to users who choose to pay for a background check, although anyone can create a profile without it. So the app is not responsible for the outcome of users' travel dates. Wade admits that MissTravel dates have resulted in a few "situations where members have been stranded," but he assures that the company did everything it could to help those women get tickets home.
“How Not To PR” By Tinder
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 12 – A piece appeared on Vanity Fair that Tinder didn’t like. And it reacted. On Twitter. A lot. "We were saddened to see that the article didn't touch upon the positive experiences that the majority of our users encounter daily. Our intention was to highlight the many statistics and amazing stories that are sometimes left unpublished, and, in doing so, we overreacted," said Tinder. There's no right or wrong thing to do during a situation like this, but the last thing you want to do is make it worse. The company came off as hot headed and not one that a journalist would care to cover at this point. The company should have at least directly apologized to the writer, Nancy Jo Sales.
Bumble Introduces New Verification Feature
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 10 - Bumble, the dating app where only women can initiate the conversations, is introducing a new verification feature – VIBee. The verification is based on users' positive contributions to Bumble. Verified users get a sticker on their profile and will be able to turn on a mode where they’re presented only with other VIBee users. The verification process is driven by an algorithm that takes into account behavior like what % of a user’s conversations are two-way, if a user has ever been reported for spam or abuse, or how likely a user is to follow up on conversations.
Forbes Partners With Tinder To Build Business Networking App
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 5 – Forbes is building a social networking app exclusively for those who made Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. It will offer a directory of members, a feed where they can post stories or polls, and the option to message each other. Forbes also worked with Tinder and its co-founder Sean Rad to build a speed networking feature where members can swipe through profiles.
Match Group Buys PlentyOfFish For $575M
TECH CRUNCH – July 14 – Match Group has agreed to acquire PlentyOfFish (POF) for $575 million in cash and expects to close early in Q4. Tinder flicked the monetization switch this spring. Singles are a core demographic for marketing other types of self-improvement services where Match/IAC also plays.
"As more people than ever use more dating apps than ever with more frequency than ever, PlentyOfFish’s addition both brings new members into our family of products and deepens the lifetime relationship we have with our users across our portfolio," said Sam Yagan, CEO of The Match Group. "I look forward to working closely with Markus and extending the company’s impressive growth trajectory." The acquisition adds 3 million daily actives to IAC’s digital media portfolio of more than 150 brands and 20 operating businesses. Match Group covers ~50 brands in the dating, education and fitness space. IAC reports 370 million unique monthly users and 2.5 billion monthly visits to its entire portfolio.
by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: Recently Markus said he was at a $100 million revenue run rate. Match bought Singlesnet, OKCupid, then Datehookup. So the writing has been on the wall for some time. It was just a matter of price. Tinder showed that Match Group could seed and grow a credible threat to the POF business. It's a good time for Markus to join with Match Group, and cash in his chips.
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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Paktor Lands $7.4M To Go Beyond Dating And Into Friendships
TECH CRUNCH – July 14 – Paktor, a service focused on Southeast Asia, has closed $7.4M Series B round that will go towards expanding its userbase and developing beyond dating to social discovery. Paktor raised $3M last Nov. Its registered userbase rose from 1.5M in Nov to ~5M today. Southeast Asia and Taiwan are their biggest markets. Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, is on track to overtake Taiwan. Now, Paktor is focused on making its mark in other parts of Asia, particularly Japan and Korea. While Paktor doesn’t have a premium membership, it has tested features such as gifting, search base on premium metrics, and contacting 'top' users on each country’s leaderboard. It also runs group chat rooms.
by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Bumble Dating App Tops 1 Million Unique Conversations
TECH CRUNCH – June 12 – Bumble, the dating app founded by ex-Tinder employees, said its female users have started ~1M conversations on the platform. Bumble works like Tinder but once a match is established, only females can initiate conversations. ~60% of matches result in a conversation, according to cofounder Whitney Wolfe. Monthly active users grew by 65% during May. 55% of users are male and 45% female.
by Fitz Tepper
See full article at Tech Crunch
Tinder Goes Through A Small Round Of Layoffs
TECH CRUNCH – June 9 - Tinder laid off ~10% of its staff last week. 6 members of the 60-65 member team left the company, including three marketing employees and three engineers.
Tinder Sees Huge Jump In App Revenue Rankings
TECH CRUNCH – May 2 – Tinder's move into the subscription business seems to be paying off. New data from app store analytics firm App Annie showcases Tinder's climb in the charts following the release of Tinder Plus. The app moved up six spots in Google Play’s revenue rankings, while on iOS it jumped from No. 969 in Overall revenue rankings to No. 26. Tinder reached that No .26 position on March 2 – when the Tinder Plus subscription service debuted.