Category: Parship

German Dating App, LemonSwan, Raised a 7-Digit Round

Posted on July 31, 2020

Lemonswan logo 2020GRUENDER – July 29 – There are currently ~17M single people in Germany. The online dating revenue in the country will be reach ~212M euros in 2020. The market is dominated by large providers such as Parship or Elitepartner, who aggressively advertise on TV and at S-Bahn stations. So are the large pieces of the cake already distributed? Arne Kahlke and Paul Uhlig don't believe that. The two are founders of dating app Lemon Swan. The app, which claims 250K users, launched 3 years ago. Kahlke has a lot of experience in connecting people. He not only built up Parship's marketing, but also founded ElitePartner in 2004 and sold the company to ProSiebenSat1. Lemon Swan's matching process is similar to that of ElitePartner and Parship – the app works with a psychological personality test and a matching algorithm – but so-called bouncers are also used to check users identity. After a capital injection in January 2019, the start-up has now received fresh capital in the seven-figure range. With the money, LemonSwan wants to become profitable in the German-speaking region in the Q1 2021, and to expand internationally.

by Marie-Charlotte Maas
See full article at Gruender

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

Prosieben to Float Its Dating Business in 2022

Posted on June 10, 2020

Prosiebensat logoFINANZEN.AT – June 10 – ProSieben is planning to spin off its dating business unit from the subsidiary Nucom and "bring it to the stock exchange at the right time at a profit," said board spokesman and CEO/CFO Rainer Beaujean. "We are currently targeting the 2022 financial year for this." ProSiebenSat.1 announced the acquisition of The Meet Group through Nucom for ~$500M in March. The meet shareholders approved the deal last week, now the antitrust authorities still have to agree. Prosieben will hold 55% of the merged online dating business, including the former Parship Group (Parship, ElitePartner, eharmony), and General Atlantic will hold 45%. The Parship Group was valued at €726M on the transaction's announcement date. "We are convinced that the takeover of The Meet Group will generate very high additional value," said Beaujean.

See full article at Finanzen.at

See the top news on The Meet Group       See the top news on eharmony
See the top news on Parship                    See the top news on ElitePartner

Private Equity Outfit KKR Has Acquired 5.2% Stake in ProSiebenSat.1

Posted on May 12, 2020

Prosiebensat logoTBI – May 12 – KKR has decided to invest in the broadcaster because it believes that the market is undervaluing the company. The investment marks the second time around with ProSiebenSat.1 for KKR. KKR's move comes six weeks after former CEO Max Conze left ProSiebenSat.1, following two years in the job. The former Dyson exec saw the company's share price tumble, while execs departed amid a strategy that included investing $500M in dating app developer The Meet Group. The company has now outlined new plans to turn away from e-commerce, with an eye on selling its NuCom arm (parent of Parship, ElitePartner, eharmony) and concentrating purely on entertainment.

by Stuart Thomson
See full article at TBI

See the top news on The Meet Group       See the top news on eharmony
See the top news on Parship                    See the top news on ElitePartner

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.coms

ProSiebenSat.1 Wants to Save Itself With Streaming and Dating

Posted on March 17, 2020

Nucom max conzeWELT – Mar 16 – CEO Max Conze has completely rebuilt the ProSiebenSat.1 station group. But profits continue to plummet, the stock keeps falling and the management staff is leaving. Most recently, the broadcasting group generated €4.14B in revenue and an adjusted profit of €872M euros . The net debt is €2.25B. A few days ago, Max Conze announced that the group, together with the US financial investor General Atlantic, would take over the American app developer The Meet Group for ~$500M.

Q: Mr. Conze, how satisfied are you with the financial results?
A: We are in the middle of transforming our business into a digital group and we are on the right track. The TV advertising market is certainly difficult right now but at the moment less than half of our revenue is generated by traditional TV advertising. We invested a lot into digital advertising business which has already grown 38% this year.

Q: Your e-commerce companies are bundled in the Nucom Group, in which the financial investor General Atlantic holds 25.1 % of the shares. Can you afford The Meet Group acquisition with a net debt of €2.25B?
A: Yes, we would not have made the offer otherwise. We will hold 55% of the new unit, while GA would increase the shares to 45%. The Parship group with the brands Parship, Eharmony and Elite Partner together with The Meet Group would represent a company value of ~€1.2B.

Q: Would it be large enough to be spun off from the NuCom Group and listed on the stock exchange?
A: If we can turn the combined Parship-Meet Group into a global leader, it would be logical to aim for an IPO in the US over the next two or three years.

by Klaus Boldt
See full article at Welt

See the top news on The Meet Group 
See the top news on Parship Group

The Meet Group to Be Acquired by NuCom for $500m

Posted on March 5, 2020

Themetgroup logoBUSINESSWIRE – Mar 5 – The Meet Group shareholders will receive $6.30 per share in cash. The deal is expected to close in the 2nd half 2020. NuCom Group is a joint company owned by of ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic's. NuCom's portfolio, under Parship Group, currently includes Parship, Elite Partner and eharmony. The purchase price represents a 30% and 43% premium to the unaffected 30 and 60 trading day volume weighted average price.

Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group said. "This transaction will allow us to tap new strategic growth opportunities by leveraging our video platform and ProSiebenSat.1's experience with content and entertainment. What's more, with this transaction and the participation of both General Atlantic and ProSiebenSat.1, we will achieve a new level of financial scale and backing, which has the potential to further accelerate our growth."

Max Conze, CEO, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE said, "The acquisition of The Meet Group is one of ProSiebenSat.1's largest transactions. It will significantly advance our ambition to create one of the leading global players in online dating and interactive live video. We believe the combination of these two successful and complementary businesses will also create synergies within the ProSiebenSat.1 universe and accelerate the growth of our market share in the German live video apps sector."

Tim Schiffers, CEO Parship Group said: "Following a successful acquisition of eharmony, we have proven that we can manage new businesses and accelerate their growth by combining the best of both worlds."

See full article at Businesswire

Mark Brooks: The Meet Group is a wonderful fit. Great news for the industry. The dating industry is heating up again. (Full Disclosure: The Meet Group are a client of Courtland Brooks, and I own shares)

See the top news on The Meet Group 

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

Parent Company of eharmony Eyes Acquisition of The Meet Group

Posted on December 16, 2019

Themetgroup logoREUTERS – Dec 16 – German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE's e-commerce arm NuCom Group is exploring the acquisition of U.S. livestreaming app developer The Meet Group. NuCom, whose holdings include online dating website eharmony, has made a preliminary expression of interest to buy The Meet Group, the sources said, cautioning that there is no certainty that there will be negotiations that lead to a deal.

by Greg Roumeliotis
See full article at Reuters

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Tim Schiffers, CEO of Parship, About Why eharmony Was a Good Match

Posted on December 6, 2019

Parship Tim SchiffersPROSIEBENSAT1 – Dec 5 – Parship Group is the leading provider of serious matchmaking services. In addition to the well-known brands Parship and ElitePartner, eharmony has also been part of the Group since 2018. The acquisition of eharmony was a perfect match, said Tim Schiffers, the CEO. eharmony is considered the icon of online dating and established the market in the US back in 2000. By acquiring eharmony, the company is taking another step towards its internationalization. Besides the likewise positioning, there are also similarities regarding the product approach: After the registration process, singles fill in a questionnaire, which then determines specific features of their partnership personality. Based on the results, the matching process is being conducted. For Parship, this process is being achieved along the lines of "as many things in common as possible, as many differences as necessary". In the future, we are going to apply this successful approach to eharmony. The company focus is now on increasing eharmony's attractiveness and relevance for a broader population.

by Tim Schiffers
See full article at ProSiebenSat1 website

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Tinder and Other Dating Apps Don’t Comply With Dutch Privacy Laws

Posted on October 29, 2019

Paiq screenshoNL TIMES – Oct 29 – Dating platforms Tinder, Happn, 50plusmatch, Parship, and Paiq are in violation of Dutch privacy law, according to consumers association Consumentenbond. They place tracking cookies without users' permission and their privacy statements are intentionally vague about who they share information with, according to the association. The consumers' association addressed the dating sites on this violation of the General Data Protection Regulation. Happn, 50plusmatch, and Paiq adjusted their cookies policy. Tinder and Parship did not.

by Janene Pieters
See full article at NL Times

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Parship 2018 Financial Results

Posted on July 8, 2019

Parship logo 2019DEUTCHE STARTUPS – July 8 – Hamburg-based dating company Parship has generated ~125M euros in revenue in 2018. 93% of sales are attributable to the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The profit was 32.4M Eur, up from 18.6M in 2017.

by Alexander Hüsing
See full article at Deutsche Startups

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Tinder Users Perceived as Less Trustworthy, Study Finds

Posted on June 6, 2019

Mobile dating 2018PSYPOST – June 5 – People tend to view Tinder users as untrustworthy, according to new research from Germany. But the study in Computers in Human Behavior suggests that this anti-Tinder effect wears off over time. Tinder still has a reputation as a "hook-up" app. An initial online survey of 223 participants found that Tinder users were rated as less trustworthy than Parship users, who in turn were rated as less trustworthy than Facebook users.

by Eric W. Dolan
See full article at PsyPost

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