THE NEXT WEB – Mar 20 - Coffee Meets Bagel a dating site that asks a few light questions and provides a daily match (or “Bagel”) based on its members’ friends-of-friends on Facebook, has passed 640K matches. The site is now launching in Washington DC, LA and Chicago.
Category: Outlets – The Next Web
Social App Monetization Kicks In
THE NEXT WEB – Mar 8 – Monthly revenues for the social networking category on the App Store jumped 87% YOY in January, according to a new study from App Annie. The social networking apps category is now the third highest in terms of monthly revenue, behind games and productivity. In terms of downloads, social networking was sixth overall among categories on the App Store in January. According to App Annie, monthly downloads were up 30% YOY and now account for 5% of total downloads. Globally, the list of top social networking apps with respect to downloads was predictably dominated by Facebook, Apple’s Find My Friends, Twitter and Skype. Dating apps like Zoosk, Badoo, Grindr Xtra and eHarmony also proved capable at monetization.
MeetCute: Another Crazy Blind Date Service
THE NEXT WEB – Feb 14 – MeetCute encourages serendipitous meetings between people who don’t know each other, and are likely to be attracted to one another. After signing up, users are asked to indicate the faces they find attractive from a list of people. Then, when they fancy putting the service to the test, they send a text message to a dedicated phone number, specifying a location and time that they’d like a chance at an ‘encounter’. The service then uses this data and an algorithm to find someone nearby who is likely to be a good match, prompting them that a potential encounter is available nearby.
Awesome Offices: HowAboutWe & DateMySchool
THE NEXT WEB – Dec 27 – New York is the world’s most populous city and it’s been dubbed creative capital of the world. Here is a look inside some of the coolest NYC tech and startup offices.
HowAboutWe allows singles to connect by letting them come up with fun date ideas. And it helps couples enrich their relationships by offering them a curated collection of great date experiences, built for two. The team operates from Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), in a former warehouse of the Grand Union Tea Company.
DateMySchool Sunset Park headquarters in Brooklyn was a weapons production facility during World War II. Today it houses creative companies. One of those is DateMySchool, the US’ largest dating platform for students and alumni.
by Mundo Resink & Stefan Blokker
See full article at The Next Web
Technology Addresses The Issues Of Dating In China
THE NEXT WEB – Oct 27 – China's national policies, economic reform, and urban migration have created challenges for the country's one billion residents when it comes to relationships. Chinese Internet companies are developing online dating sites designed to meet the specific issues men and women face here. One company is Jiayuan with nearly 70 million members. Momo, a Chinese iPhone social networking app has grown to 16 million members and raised $40m in funding with a $100m valuation.
Cupid Launches LoveAgain, 50+ Dating Site In US
THE NEXT WEB – Sep 27 – Cupid is expanding its portfolio in the US with the launch of mature dating site LoveAgain along with a matching Facebook app. LoveAgain is the US version of Cupid’s existing UK site for the over 40s, MatureDatingUK. Cupid has a close eye on the American territories of course and acquisition is not off the agenda as the firm expands. "If we find the right priced acquisition in the US we could accelerate our growth", says CEO Bill Dobbie.
IAC Buys DateHookup
THE NEXT WEB – Aug 31 – IAC today announced its acquisition of DateHookup.com, a free dating site that claims 1M unique visitors per month. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. DateHookup was founded by CEO Dustin Weirich in 2002 and has grown to become the 6th most-trafficked free online dating website in the US.
by Robin Wauters
See full article at The Next Web
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
POF Is Launching Luvmybox
THE NEXT WEB – Aug 3 – Plentyoffish.com (POF) has launched a side project dubbed Luvmybox. The new venture will ship you a discreetly packaged box filled with “adult oriented and flirty items” on a monthly basis for $34.95 a month. Every month, a ‘LuvBox’ will be sent to members, filled with “intimate and slightly risqué items”. No more awkward trips to the sex shop, in other words. POF says Luvmybox will start shipping boxes in the US and Canada in September.
by Robin Wauters
See full article at The Next Web
Mark Brooks: Markus commented "Its not owned by POF, and POF resources won't be committed to it."
Zoosk Launches Couple Profiles
THE NEXT WEB – Apr 2 – Couples can now build their joint profile on Zoosk and share their lives together. The combined account has a ‘Romantic Moments’ feature that can act as a repository for images, updates and comments on events like anniversaries, vacations, special moments and more. Zoosk is available in 25 languages and has members in ~70 countries. The company was founded in 2007 by Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr.
Online Dating Spend Grows By 60% On Last Year
THE NEXT WEB – Feb 11 - New data suggests that there has been a 57% increase in online dating revenues in the past year. Digital marketing and billing manager Vindicia has been tracking the global activity for its online dating clients. Social networking, and in particular Facebook, is contributing to the growth. Vindicia’s online dating clients attracted £3.4 million (US$5.4 million) in revenues in January alone this year, compared to the £2.2M (US$3.5M) spent in January 2011. Sales have increased steadily over the weekends leading up to Valentine’s Day too – with dating companies seeing individual spikes of up to 40%, and a combined global spike of 23% last weekend (February 3rd) against the previous weekend’s spend (January 27th). These figures are global, and are taken from across all of Vindicia’s online dating clients, which include SNAPInteractive, SpeedDate.com, Online Buddies and AvidLife. Online dating spend grows by 60% on last year, and the industry can only get bigger