Statistics

After a rough patch at the end of November where the newly launched stock for dating app Grindr hit an all-time low, it is now looking more promising for potential investors.

Seeking Alpha reported that shares on November 29th opened at $8, reaching a high of $9 before falling to $6.52 in the late afternoon. The stock had only debuted on November 18, following its merger with SPAC Tiga Acquisition Corp which valued the combined company at $2.1 billion. Shares of the combined company rose over 500 percent before closing its first day at $36.50, but then plunged the next day and did not recover through the end of November and into December.

Grindr however released its third quarter earnings report in early December, noting that revenue for the quarter was up 32 percent year-over-year to $50.4 million, and year-to-date revenue was up to $140.5 million. 

Dating app Bumble recently surveyed its users to get a clearer picture of what singles are looking for as we head into the New Year, and found that attitudes are shifting when it comes to gender, sex, and work-life balance.

Surveying 14,000 of its users, Bumble’s findings point to some major shifts taking place in the dating world, notably around work-life balance. Workaholism is no longer prized, especially among younger daters who prefer to make time for breaks and leisure. More than half of all respondents said they are actively creating more space for rest, and 13 percent said they would no longer date someone with a very demanding job.

The pandemic’s effect on the workplace and peoples’ ability to keep working from home has also shifted attitudes about who to date. Thirty -three percent of respondents around the world say they are now more open to travel and cultivate a relationship with someone who doesn’t live in the same city.

BLK, the dating app for black singles, has announced a new feature to help alumni and students who attended HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) connect with each other.

Homecoming Mode lets users add a sticker of their HBCU, allowing them to discover others who attended their college and show their school pride, according to Afro.com. BLK created the feature as a way of creating more ways for singles to strike up conversations, as communities are a big focus of the app. The goal is also to encourage each other to make plans as homecoming season is around the corner.

The stickers are available now, and so far, the company says that the top three stickers that users are adding include Florida A&M University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Howard University. Currently, BLK offers 15 stickers for HBCUs but plans to expand to include more in the future.

The value for dating app Bumble’s stock has dropped 14 percent after the company lowered revenue forecasts for the fourth quarter, and Gen Z users have increasingly stopped renewing their subscriptions.

Bumble expects Q4 revenue to be between $232 million and $237 million according to Reuters. This is lower than Wall Street projections of $254.5 million, according to Refinitiv data. Still, the company pointed out that paying users for the third quarter increased to 3.3 million from 2.9 million last year, a sign of growth despite the downturn.

According to Motley Fool, on a call with investors, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said that the economic slowdown affected spending for “certain segments of its user base,” notably younger daters, who were not renewing subscriptions at the normal rate. Motley Fool also noted that shares had already fallen 38 percent this year as investors fled dating and tech stocks in general, following a surge of interest and rising subscriptions in dating apps during pandemic lockdowns.

Dating app conglomerate Match Group reported third quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations, with more of its users paying for subscriptions on dating app Tinder. The company’s stock rose 16 percent in response.

Despite the effects of inflation and a slow first half of the year, along with poor execution of some new features and executive team changes made by new CEO Bernard Kim, Match Group turned things around and impressed investors and analysts with better-than-expected revenue gains. Match Group revenue reached $810 million for the quarter ending September 30th, beating analysts’ estimate of $793 million according to Refinitiv data.

Tinder’s revenue grew 6 percent and its paying users jumped 7 percent according to Reuters. Tinder users account for the vast majority of Match Group’s estimated 100 million active users.

Dating app Hinge announced that it will be rolling out a video verification feature to combat fake accounts and scammers, a problem for dating apps in general.

“Selfie Verification” prompts Hinge users to upload a video of themselves, and the app will confirm that the person in the video matches the photos posted to their profile. When the profile is verified, they receive a “Verified” badge. Selfie verification isn’t required, but if users want the badge they have to complete the process.

Hinge told Wired that the verification process is a combination of machine learning and human oversight that will “compare facial geometries from the video selfie to photos on the user’s profile.”