Hayley Birkin

Grindr is limiting its AI conversation summary feature to 25% of Unlimited subscribers, about 2.5% of its total subscribers, after halving AI costs.

Match Group is relaunching Pairs in South Korea, where marriages have fallen 40% since 2014, while its Asia revenue fell 6% in Q4 2024.

Sitch, a New York dating startup, raised $2M in pre-seed funding led by a16z's Speedrun and refunds users who are ghosted after paid matches.

Match Group is spending £1 million on a Hinge fund for London meetups. The US version subsidised 3,500 events attended by 125,000 people.

Whitney Wolfe Herd has returned as Bumble CEO after 14 months, replacing Lidiane Jones, with the share price down 91% from its 2021 peak.

Quickmeets, a Penn graduate's dating app, uses AI to match users with lookalikes of uploaded celebrity photos at seven US universities.

Lunch Actually has acquired dating app Paktor, forming a hybrid matchmaking and app business across six Asian markets.

Match Group named Spencer Rascoff CEO, its fourth in six years, as Bumble brought back founder Whitney Wolfe Herd after 24 months under Lidiane Jones.

Tinder is running ExCycle, a two-day New York pop-up that upcycles clothes from past relationships, as it tests post-breakup retention.

Match Group's annual report puts social ads at 67% of performance marketing spend, up from 54% in 2021, exposing dating apps to platform shifts.

Social Discovery Group commits $20 million to a venture fund for AI dating tools and VR social platforms, taking minority stakes in startups.

Bumble is closing dating apps Fruitz and Official on 31st May, saying it will focus on core businesses, as Q4 2024 revenue rose 9% year-on-year.

Bindr's spin-out ColdStart, an AI marketing tool, has secured more than $1 million in contracts and now earns more than the dating app's 250,000-user platform.

Bumble shares fell 12% after-hours on weak Q1 guidance of $268M-$273M, despite Q4 revenue of $275.5M beating analyst expectations by 2%.

Match Group and Bumble's push into events may move dating from software to hospitality economics, as Gen Z shifts to social apps.

Hello Group's Q4 2024 net income fell 59% to $32.2M as revenue fell 12% to $471.2M, while Middle East revenue hit $138M, above Tantan's China revenue.

Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff told Bloomberg its apps had become 'a numbers game', while Tinder is not expected to return to growth until 2027.

Slide1828 says 48% of its surveyed users felt uncomfortable meeting a dating app match alone, but double-date apps remain small and unproven.

Match Group is adding generative AI for profiles and messages as Tinder subscribers fell 9% to 9.6 million in Q3 2024, says an analysis.

Tinder will add AI-curated matching alongside swiping, Match Group says, after five consecutive quarters of user decline at the app.