India

A new study found that dating app users tripled in India over the course of 2018, thanks mainly to women.

Dating app usage in the Indian market has huge potential, and not just because of the impressive growth over the last year. Overall user penetration still rather low at 2.7 percent as of 2018, but it’s expected to hit 3.2 percent by 2023 according to online market researcher Statista. Analysts also expect the market to be valued at $100 million in the next five to eight years, according to a report in LiveMint.

Dating apps are incredibly popular, but as they saturate the U.S. market, the significant growth of the last few years is not expected to continue through 2019. Research analysts at eMarketer found that while the number of people use dating apps in the country has grown to a whopping 25 million, the market demand is starting to slow down.

According to Business Insider, apps like Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid, (all owned by Match Group), ^[1] have contributed to the growing interest in dating apps, launching new features every few months to attract new (and young) users.

Chinese dating app Tantan, which was recently removed from the Chinese app stores, is on the rise in India. The popular app has gained traction among singles and is now the fifth most popular dating app in the country.

“India is one of the fastest growing internet markets in the world, hence it’s very important to be present and win in the Indian market,” Tantan told Quartz. “After doing a soft launch in India, we learned more about the market and users which helped us in serving the market better.”

Tinder plans to launch a new, scaled-down version of the app called Tinder Lite.

According to Tech Crunch, the new app is catering to markets where bandwidth, data usage and storage space have all been challenging, which means customers to pay a premium for access to mobile data. Some of the regions Tinder is targeting include India and Southeast Asia, where parent company Match Group has appointed three new executives and dedicated more resources to growing its brands.

Tinder Lite was initially mentioned in an investor call according to Tech Crunch. However, Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg shared few details about the launch or the app. There was no specific date mentioned, and no details about what features would be removed, but likely the trademark swiping and matching would remain as key elements of the Tinder Lite experience.

Match Group recently paid $9 million in stock awards to Tinder employees, thanks to the stellar growth of its most valuable dating app. But this good news could sour for the online dating giant if it helps former Tinder execs win their lawsuit, led by Tinder’s co-founder Sean Rad.

Rad and other former Tinder employees filed a lawsuit against Match Group last year, claiming it devalued Tinder stock options to avoid paying them billions in stock. The new hefty $9.4 million payout to current Tinder employees, based on the popular dating app’s performance over the last year, could be an indication that Match Group might have undervalued Tinder, as Rad argues in the lawsuit.

Match Group announced some changes in key leadership and company structure in light of its new focus on the Asian market.

As U.S. and European markets make up the bulk of revenue for Match Group, the company sees great untapped potential in Asian markets, where young single populations are booming. According to Tech Crunch, there are more than 400 million singles in Southeast Asia and two-thirds have not tried a dating app.

Match Group is focusing on Japan, Taiwan, India, South Korea and Southeast Asia with three new general managers hired to oversee expansion in these areas. One manager is Junya Ishibashi, who will become general manager of Match Group for Japan and Taiwan. Taru Kapoor will be general manager of Match Group India, and Lyla Seo is now GM of Match Group for South Korea and Southeast Asia.