Milestones

Bumble made its first acquisition by purchasing fast-growing French dating app Fruitz. 

Fruitz is particularly popular with younger Gen Z daters in France, and Bumble will be adding it to its suite of apps including Badoo, which is popular across Europe. Fruitz caught Bumble’s eye because of its growth among this demographic in Western Europe – including Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands in addition to France. Fruitz is also gaining ground in French-speaking Canada.

Bumble will not be rebranding Fruitz, according to Tech Crunch. It will provide the resources for Fruitz to expand and operate however, including AI technology, safety features, and marketing. Currently Fruitz is available free for download but users can purchase additional features for a cost.

China-based dating app Yumi has started beta testing experiences in its new metaverse, called Meta Town, hoping to attract young Gen Z daters who are interested in immersive experiences.

Users can create avatars based on their photos, explore the metaverse to find other virtual daters, and have real-time audio conversations with “artificial intelligence-powered translation,” according to the South China Morning Post, making it easier for daters who don’t speak the same language to connect.

The metaverse is a platform where people can interact via avatars in real time and in different virtual spaces, often with the ability to exchange virtual goods and services. 

Tinder is adding more features to ramp up safety for its users, including background checks and educating staff on how to handle reports of abuse.

The dating app company announced the new measures in a blog post, noting that all customer service team members are now being trained on “how survivors might respond to sexual violence and describe those experiences, how to recognize serious reports that may use vague language, and how to respond in a trauma-informed manner to these types of reports,” according to the company’s blog post.

Last year, Tinder’s parent company Match Group invested in the safety nonprofit Garbo, which will be providing the background checks for users. Garbo can check a wide variety of public records on a potential match, and notify a user if the match has a history of violence, as well as any other potential issues like DUIs or vehicular manslaughter. The company doesn’t include drug possession charges or minor traffic violations in its reporting. 

The online dating market continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic, with expected revenue to increase to $4.5 billion US by 2025.

According to research firm Statista, the industry is expected to reach about $3.7 billion US this year (up from $2.86 billion in 2020) as more people join and become active users, in part due to global lockdowns. The pandemic has shifted attitudes towards dating apps, with more singles than ever before downloading and swiping.

Revenue has increased along with new users, as many of the apps are offering popular “freemium” pricing in addition to subscriptions. While the majority of users don’t want to commit to paying a monthly fee to join a dating app, they are willing to pay for certain features, like messaging, being able to see if someone already liked their profile, or putting their profile at the top of search lists. Offering these services as premium paid features has been a boon for dating apps, increasing overall market revenue substantially, especially during the pandemic.

The OASIS Consortium published its first set of safety standards for the next generation of the Web, which includes the metaverse. The goal is to create a blueprint for how companies and developers should approach online safety going forward.

The Consortium was founded in 2021 shortly after the insurrection at the Capitol in the U.S., a day where a mob terrorized and threatened lawmakers ahead of the certification of Biden as President. Investigations into the riot have shown how social media, particularly Facebook and its outsized influence, has helped to radicalize people when it comes to their political viewpoints.

According to Time Magazine, The Consortium addresses issues across a number of tech industries, including dating apps, video games, and immersive tech platforms that are leading the way into the metaverse, or what’s called Web 3.0. Leaders from Riot Games, The Meet Group (which owns dating apps like MeetMe, LOVOO, Growlr, and Skout) and others have helped to develop these standards for improving safety and privacy as people spend more time online.

Several of Japan’s largest companies have turned to an AI dating app to help their employees find love during the pandemic.

According to Kyodo News, about 800 companies have signed up to offer the app Aill goen to employees, with the aim that they will be happier and more productive workers if they are in a good relationship. Companies are also hoping the dating app will provide a way to help employees who might be struggling with their mental health, since they have been unable to physically interact with others because of lockdowns.

The pool of matches will be limited only to participating company employees, providing a level of safety and accountability for users of the app. Aill goen is being offered to employees as part of their benefits package at work, according to Kyodo News.