The numbers of people in India turning to online dating has soared since the start of the pandemic. As they have been forced to stay at home and limit their interactions, many are trying dating apps for the first time to connect and meet new people. 

Dating app QuackQuack has been one of the fastest-growing dating apps in India, though it competes with giants like Hinge, Tinder and Bumble who are pouring resources into marketing efforts in the country. Still, QuackQuack saw a 300 percent increase in sign-ups that took their user base to 11 million in 2020, mostly due to people in smaller cities and towns eager to try the service. 

In fact, over seventy percent of new sign ups on QuackQuack in 2020 were from smaller cities and towns, a change from previous years. Over the past year, they added 3.4 million new users according to India New England News.

Dating app S’More announced that it raised $2.1 million in VC funding, and plans to expand its team and create original content for digital platforms and TV networks.

According to Tech Crunch, the app has seen a boon in subscribers since the pandemic hit. S’More stands for “something more,” advertising that its platform for more serious daters. Studies conducted in the past few months show that COVID-19 has changed attitudes towards online dating, and that singles are now looking for relationships rather than hookups and taking their time by virtual dating before agreeing to meet in person. 

S’More has capitalized on this trend. The company just launched a redesign in January including a virtual chat feature which, similar to its profile photos, blurs the screen for participants until you get to know each other. (The more you talk, the clearer your date’s image becomes.) The app also added real-time conversation prompts and the ability for its users to pay to promote their own profiles.

Bumble Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd became a billionaire this week after Bumble made its stock market debut on February 10^th.

The company offered shares initially at $43 a piece (up from its proposed initial amount of $28 to $30 per share), valuing the female-focused dating app conglomerate at over $8 billion. Shares surged immediately, trading at more than $76 each, making the firm worth $13 billion by the end of the day, according to CNN.

Bumble is one of the most high-profile IPOs in the tech industry this year, and its 31 year-old founder is an anomaly among tech CEOs as CNN points out – she doesn’t come from a STEM background, she didn’t raise billions in venture capital, but now she is a young female billionaire.

Recipient of Gold
Tinder

Recipient of Silver
POF

Recipient of Bronze
eHarmony

This past year has been an interesting one from a dating perspective thanks to the pandemic that took hold of the world and the lock downs and social distancing that resulted from it. Most of the popular dating services found an increase in visitors especially during lockdown when people were forced to stay home. Seeing this trend, dating services that did not have a video feature rushed to get one added to their service to ensure daters had a way to interact virtually through live video streaming since meeting in real life was out. The funny thing with this is most services that have been around for the past 5 years probably had implemented video dating at one point, but had removed it by 2020 due to members not using it. While a lot of dating services did see increase numbers of visitors that did not necessarily mean increased revenue since online daters are looking to spend less during these uncertain times.

Right on schedule this year the 2021 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll went online October 1^st, 2020 and closed for voting on December 31^st, 2020. In 3 months, 334 visitors took time and cast their vote in the poll. This is down about 35% when compared to last year. I think part the reason for this was singles had decided to stay with the popular dating options instead of looking for new services thanks to the pandemic. For 2021, the poll asked the following question:

Dating app Bumble set the terms to raise as much as $1 billion for its initial public offering. The company is expected to make its stock market debut later this month.

According to Bloomberg, Bumble plans to sell a total of 34.5 million shares for $28 to $30 per share to reach its goal. This information was disclosed earlier this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If shares go for $30, Bumble would be valued at over $6 billion including debt after the listing, according to Bloomberg. This is based on the outstanding Class A shares in its listing document.

OkCupid has partnered with vegetarian food brand Sweet Earth to help vegetarians and vegans find love ahead of Valentine’s Day.

The companies will host a virtual event along with Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes, a “flexitarian” who is dating co-star and actress Madelyn Cline, who is vegan, about how to navigate dating when you and your match follow different diets. The Veggie Lovers Virtual Dating Event will take place online on Wednesday February 10th.

OkCupid’s Dating Expert Damona Hoffman will lead the Q&A session along with Stokes to discuss the challenges daters feel when it comes to navigating dietary preferences. Participants can also enter for a chance to win a spot in a private and exclusive speed dating event, according to Veg Times.