Deals, earnings, valuations and investor news from the dating business.
Dating app operators are set to spend $252M on ads in 2024, up 15%, as Bumble's $44M through July passes Tinder's $41M, per Pathmatics.
Dating app DOWN claims 15 million registered users and 400% revenue growth in 2024 with near-zero ad spend, mostly via word of mouth.
Greenlight, a dating app with no profiles or messaging, launches a Hoboken, New Jersey beta by end of November, using live venue check-ins on a map.
FROME, Lox Club and Summer, three LA dating startups, limit choice through conversation caps, events and applications, but none has disclosed revenue.
Match Group and Bumble are expanding friend-finding features, which the analysis calls churn mitigation as Tinder average subscribers fell 8%.
Bumble faces a securities fraud suit alleging it misled investors on Premium Plus and its redesign, covering 10 February to 6 August 2024.
Meme-based dating app Schmooze has raised $4M in Series A funding and is adding an AI dating coach and chatbot companion.
The League is launching a hybrid dating model with in-person events at $250 to $1,000 per month, versus its $99 monthly app subscription.
Match Group's Tinder saw daily active users fall 10% year-over-year while stablemate Hinge grew 17%, according to Match's recent earnings materials.
Gaydar is co-launching KK Homme, a male-only sex party with KK Group, on 19 October. Tickets start at £150, a revenue move beyond subscriptions.
Hoodfishing, where users change their dating app location with paid features like Tinder Passport, is a revenue stream platforms do not disclose.
Bumble has expanded its WNBA New York Liberty deal with playoff game sponsorship and a singles event, as Q2 2024 monthly active users fell 4%.
79% of Gen Z singles use dating apps less than once a month, per Axios and Generation Lab, challenging Match Group's subscription revenue model.
Analysts expect Bumble's Q2 revenue to be $273M, up 5%, but the stock has fallen 7.4% to $7.95 on fears of a full-year guidance cut.
Dating apps Better In Person, Lovector and Find Our Way launched between 15 and 17 July with near-identical AI pitches, and none explains its AI.
Bindr, a dating app for bisexual and LGBTQ+ users, won $60,000 at Startupfest's queer entrepreneur pitch competition in Montreal.
Six new dating apps, including YouMatch and Loverse, have launched while Match Group's market cap fell from $46B in 2021 to roughly $8B.
Grindr raised full-year revenue growth guidance to between 23% and 25% at its investor day, where it pitched an AI-powered 'Global Gayborhood'.
Hearts, the $0.99-per-match dating app, is seeking its first CEO on equity-only pay, with a part-time option, after launching in November 2023.
Google projects the online dating market will reach €8.6bn by 2027, substantially above Statista's $3.97bn for 2028, it told HubPeople affiliates.
Match Group has named Jay Shetty Chief Relationship Advisor to develop values-based matching features as revenue growth slows to single digits.
Match Group's Chispa will donate $1 per Pride sticker displayed to the Human Rights Campaign, capped at $10,000, with artist Julio Salgado.
Financial covers the money in online dating: quarterly results from Match Group (MTCH), Bumble (BMBL) and Grindr (GRND), private-company accounts filed at Companies House, mergers and acquisitions, take-privates, funding rounds and investor moves. DII reports figures from the filings themselves, gives each number its period and source, and compares companies on the same basis. Every deal also goes into DII's deals tracker.