Hayley Birkin
Reporter, Finance, Regulation and People, Dating Industry Insights. Edited by Bill Alena.
Hayley Birkin reports on the business of online dating for Dating Industry Insights: earnings, funding rounds, deals and valuations, the laws and regulators that shape the sector, and the people who lead it.
619 stories. Latest: .
Stories by Hayley Birkin, page 14 of 31
- Singapore Is Using Dating Apps as a Demographics Policy Tool
Coffee Meets Bagel users in Singapore get discounts at 11 cultural venues from 14 February 2026 under a government SG Culture Pass partnership.
- TikTok's Local Feed Is a Direct Threat to Dating Apps' Discovery Advantage
TikTok launched Local Feed in the US on 11th February, a GPS opt-in feature for nearby venues and events that competes with dating apps' discovery tools.
- Grindr's $499 Subscription Is a Pricing Psychology Experiment with Real ARPU Upside
Grindr is piloting an AI subscription tier called EDGE at up to $499 per month, with randomised pricing, in Australia and New Zealand first.
- Valentine's Day Delivers a Revenue Spike and a Mental Health Bill. Both Are Growing.
A clinical analysis links Valentine's Day to higher suicide risk and problematic dating app use, raising duty of care questions for platforms.
- India's 3-Hour Takedown Rule: A Product Crisis for Dating Apps
India cuts its content takedown deadline from 36 hours to three on 20th February, requiring dating apps to automate deepfake and AI photo detection.
- Snapchat's Location Alerts Are a Dating Safety Feature Nobody Asked For
Snapchat's Home Safe recorded over 1 million activations in six months, 0.23% of its 443 million daily active users.
- Breeze's Bolt Partnership Creates a Revenue Model and a Liability in One Move
Breeze has partnered with ride-hailing platform Bolt to offer 40% off a first trip to a date, and a nine-point safety guide, as it expands beyond matching.
- EU's TikTok Case Puts Dating Apps' Engagement Tactics on Notice
The European Commission accused TikTok on 6 February of breaching the DSA over infinite scroll and autoplay, features dating apps also use.
- Snapchat's Subscriber Numbers Just Reset the Benchmark for Dating App Monetisation
Snap Inc. reported 24 million paid subscribers in Q4 2025, up 71%, as daily active users fell to 474 million, raising pressure on dating apps.
- Tinder's AI Pivot Is Strategic Only If the Product Underneath It Improves
Tinder is testing its AI Chemistry feature in Australia, offering one or two curated matches per session as monthly active users fell 9% in Q4 2025.
- ParshipMeet's CFO Hire: A Survival Strategy, Not a Growth Plan
ParshipMeet Group appoints Justin Zinck, formerly Senior Director Finance at HelloFresh, as CFO from February 2026.
- Sunoo's Suspension: South Korea's Matchmaking Sector Faces Reckoning
South Korea's watchdog has ordered matchmaker Sunoo to suspend operations over alleged Marriage Brokerage Act violations, per The Chosun Daily.
- Dating Apps Have Hit a Structural Ceiling. Profitable Adaptation Requires a Different Model.
Kinsey Institute's Dr. Justin Garcia argues dating apps clash with human courtship, and Bumble's premium ARPU grew just 3% year-over-year in Q1 2024.
- India's Data Consent Ruling: A Looming Crisis for Dating Apps
India's Supreme Court suspended Meta's data-sharing practices pending appeal of a ₹2.13 billion fine, a case with consent implications for dating apps.
- Ditto Raised $9.2M to Kill Engagement-Farming. The Incumbents Are Not Worried Yet.
Ditto, an iMessage-only dating service, raised $9.2M in seed funding and claims 42,000 users across five California universities.
- PURE Hit $100M Revenue. Its Privacy Model Deserves More Credit Than It Gets.
PURE dating app reports $100M in 2025 gross revenue, up 46%, but has never disclosed user numbers, so its growth cannot be independently verified.
- Grindr's Olympic Safety Protocol Is a Temporary Fix for a Permanent Problem
Grindr will disable location features in the Olympic Village at Milano Cortina 2026, from 6 to 22 February, its third Olympics with such measures.
- Australia's Age Ban: Snapchat's 415,000 Blocks Reveal a Displacement Dilemma
Snapchat blocked 415,000 Australian accounts under the under-16 social media ban, and Meta blocked 544,000, as platforms warn of displacement.
- UpScrolled Grew 16x. The Governance Model Is What Dating Apps Should Study.
UpScrolled grew from 150,000 to 2.5 million users in four weeks, founder Issam Hijazi said, but daily actives fell to 68,000 from a 138,500 peak.
- TikTok's Vegas LIVE Push Is Its Clearest Attempt Yet to Crack Western Monetisation
TikTok will hold Live Fest in Las Vegas on 12 February 2026, headlined by Demi Lovato, as it tries to build LIVE monetisation in the West.
Companies Hayley covers most
- Match Group (54)
- Grindr (25)
- Bumble (19)
- Meta (7)
- Matrimony.com (6)
- Ithaca Holdings (5)
- Aisle (5)
- ODDA (3)
- ParshipMeet Group (3)
- Hello Group (3)
The DII team
- Kim Harris, Reporter, Technology, Data and News
- Bill Alena, Editor and founder