EINPRESSWIRE – Apr 28 – Dating Group, the parent company of Dating.com, DateMyAge, Promise, Tubit, ChinaLove, and Dil Mil, closed a $50M corporate venture capital fund in 2020 to continue investing in services and IT companies that meet their mission. By the end of Q1 2021, Dating Group acquired a "slow dating" app, Once, for $18M. This was 14 months after Dating Group acquired Dil Mil, the growing app used by South Asian expats to meet in the U.S. "Our strategy includes acquiring innovative companies with a differentiated product-market fit and building products that will create a more robust ecosystem of social discovery," said KJ Dhaliwal, Chief Strategy Officer of Dating Group.
Category: Social Discovery Group
Dating Group Acquires Slow Dating App Once for $18M
WUV.DE – Jan 19 – Once, the dating app that connects two people once a day with the help of AI, has been acquired by Dating Group for $18M (a combination of cash and Dating Group shares). Once claims ~10M users, and is popular in Germany, France and Italy. Clémentine Lalande, Once CEO, will continue to lead the company. The 37-year-old founded another feminist dating app, called Pickable, which she sold to Once in May 2019, and became the CEO.
by Nadia Riaz
See full article at Wuv.de
See the top news on Once
See the top news on Pickable
See the top news on Dating Group
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
How Working From Home Makes Us Responsible and Productive – Dmitriy Volkov
INC – Oct 28 – Covid is eating us from the inside. This will continue for an indefinite time: a year and a half. Someone will adapt. When everyone switched to remote work, the question began to torment me: how many invisible e-employees and e-part-timers do I have? Those who will manage to do nothing or receive two or three salaries from different organizations for full-time work. 90% of my their effectiveness has increased. I asked managers .
In 2013, a large-scale experiment in China showed that if employees worked from home 4 out of 5 working days, their productivity increased. Workers are less distracted at home. Another study concluded those working from home were more satisfied, productive and loyal to the employer, and became more autonomous – it became easier for them to make decisions.
- At home, I myself determine what and when to work. This allows me to focus better.
- Now I can make decisions not only during working hours, but also in the evening and in the morning.
- Now I am not distracted by my colleague Eva when she cuts her nails on my desk.
Consider your…
- transparency of communications
- clear areas of responsibility
- trust between managers and subordinates
- open access to information
Dating Group CVC Fund, Q&A With Managing Partner Bill Alena
FINSMES – Oct 14 – Dating Group, a Malta-based social discovery platform, which operates several online dating brands, raised a $50M fund earlier this year. Dating Group CVC Fund Managing Partner Bill Alena answered questions about its mission and future plans.
Q: What's your background?
A: I've been in the dating and social space for 14 years. Previous to joining Dating Group I was the CRO of The Meet Group for 11 years.
Q: What's the mission behind the fund?
A: It has multiple missions. We want to help the industry grow. We also believe we can be so much more to companies than just the money. Lastly, we want to invest in companies that might be interesting for us to fully acquire in the future.
Q: How does Dating Group CVC fund differentiate from other VC funds investing in dating projects?
A: As a company that already owns over 15 brands in the dating space, we know what we're doing. We hope to offer more than just an investment but access to numerous resources.
Q: What does a startup need for you to invest?
A: We have to believe in that entrepreneur and the team. We are looking for passion and ideally a past history of success. A quality product and vision is vital.
Q: How many companies have you already invested in?
A: We just began the fund in March. To date we've only made two investments.
Q: Why does this industry attract you and keeps you engaged?
A: It's always changing. There's always something new and exciting on the horizon.
Q: How positive are you for the future of the online dating industry?
A: There is a universal need to find love and I expect the industry to continue to grow. I think the pandemic helped us evolve faster than we might have with things like video.
Q&A With Bill Alena, Managing Partner of Dating Group CVC Fund
VATOR.TV – June 6 – The fund is part of investment firm SDVentures. Bill Alena is a Digital Media and Dating specialist with ~20 years of experience. For 11 years he served as The Meet Group's CRO where he joined pre-revenue and helped grow the business to ~$200M annually.
Q: What is your investment philosophy or methodology?
Bill Alena: First off, we're part of SDVentures, which is a larger company that really has two groups. We're the corporate VC arm, which is focused solely on dating. Dmitri Volkov, the founder of SDVentures, as well as Dating Group, started this fund to help fund people and also to spur the industry. He wanted to give the industry more energy and more competitors. It's a $50M fund, and we're doing seed, Series As and and, potentially, Bs.
Q: What's the opportunity you see in the dating space right now? Why is it exciting?
A: Video is hot now. Everything that's been coming up slowly is going to be super hyper sped.
Q: How many investments do you plan to make in a year going forward?
A: I don't want to put any numbers on it right now.
Q: How much do you want to invest each time?
A: Maximum of ~$5M.
Q: What kind of traction does a startup need for you to invest? Do you have any specific numbers?
A: We're going to need to see a product. I doubt that we're going to invest in anything that hasn't been built yet. We need to like the concept and, most importantly, the founders. There's no specific metric line that we'll be requiring when looking at somebody.
Q: You mentioned the team being the most important thing. What do you look for in a team you want to invest in?
A: First, we love to see some past success. Have they had any other business? Have they had any exits? What did that look like? Frankly, if they failed, that's okay too, if you understand why and how. Oftentimes, that can be a good thing. Personally, I look for folks that are sharp and smart, but, most importantly, I like to see that they have commitment to the business.
Q: There are many venture funds out there today, how do you differentiate yourself to limited partners?
A: We are really good at dating.
Q: Venture is a two-way street, where investors also have to pitch themselves. How do you differentiate your fund to entrepreneurs?
A: We have a board of directors of C-level and former senior level executives that were focused on this particular ecosystem. So, there's access to people that we're going to bring to you.
Q: What are some of the investments you've made that you're super excited about?
A: S'More, a dating app that's focused on giving more control back. One of the things I like about it is that it has blurry images and users have to get to know somebody before they can see their photos. The founder is great, he's been in dating for 10 years and he's really high energy.
The Top Dating Industry News for March 24th
OPW – Mar 24 – Dating on the Rise, Free Premium Features, POF Livestreaming, Dating.com VC Fund.
For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker , Google Podcasts
, Spotify
, Anchor
, Stitcher
, Overcast
, Radio Public
or Apple Podcasts
. Listen to the trailer for the channel.
Dating.com Group Launches $50 Million Corporate VC Fund
PULSE 2.0 – Mar 20 – The fund will invest in companies and projects in the dating space. Dating.com Group has recently acquired India-based Dil Mil – which is known as the "Tinder for South Asians". Some of the company's other apps include Dating.com, AnastasiaDate.com, Tubit, DateMyAge, AsianDate.com, and AfricanDate.com. The first investment was in S'More – which is a dating app encourages users to learn more about a person before looking at profile photos.
by Amit Chowdhry
See full article at Pulse 2.0
See the top news on Dating.com Group
See the top news on Dil Mil
See the top news on S'More
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
How a Philosopher From Moscow Made $750M on Dating
In 1998 he founded IT-Online which created and promoted Internet sites. A customer asked him to automate the printing process of catalogs with photographs and profiles for an American dating service AnastasiaDate. Volkov automated the manufacturing process and suggested that the customer transfer the catalogs online and share profit with Volkov.
SDVentures was created in 2014. The Dating.com Group includes Dating.com, DateMyAge, Cherish, Tubit, AnastasiaDate, ChinaLove, AsianDate and Amolatina (73m users +, $200m rev) and Volkov predicts 15-20% growth per year.
Dating.com Group, one of the largest dating companies in the world and focuses on international dating services, says Courtland Brooks founder Mark Brooks.
Now he's investing in project from $1m to $5m.
by Irina Yuzbekova
See full article at Forbes
Full Disclosure: Mark Brooks (OPW co-editor) was Chief Strategy Officer in 2013-2014 and SD Ventures was a client of Courtland Brooks.
Dating.com Group Announces Business Development Plans for 2020
PR NEWSWIRE – Dec 4 – Dating.com Group, the parent company of Dating.com, Dil Mil, Lovinga, Tubit, TripTogether, announced its plans to focus on expanding into the Asian market in 2020. Dating.com Group has recently acquired Dil Mil. Jev Golinejs, Dating.com Group CLO, said: "The deal with Dil Mil has increased the profit of Dating.com Group at up to $250M.
Dil Mil, a Dating App for the Indian Diaspora, Is Redefining “Arranged” Marriage
QUARTZ INDIA – Nov 28 – Only ~10% of Indian marriages are for love, the rest are arranged or semi-arranged by families. Generally, parents facilitate talks and perhaps even take decisions. This traditional system seems to work given that divorce rates in India are among the lowest in the world, albeit some argue it is problematic. But the concept of arranged marriage is changing. Last week, Dating.com Group acquired the San Francisco-based dating app for expats from India and other south Asian countries. Dil Mil has ~1M users in the US, the UK, and Canada. Already, Dil Mil has led to ~20M matches and averages one marriage per day. "Over 80% of south Asians marry other south Asians, but south Asian expats are geographically dispersed across the world, making it hard for them to meet each other," said KJ Dhaliwal, founder and CEO of Dil Mil. "Historically, most of them have met offline through their local social circles." Dil Mil allows Indian women to join but only non-resident Indian (NRI) men can join.