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Dating app conglomerate 9Count announced that it has raised another $6 million in VC funding on top of its earlier Series A funding of $21.5 million, bringing total funds raised so far to $27.5 million.

According to Tech Crunch, investors have taken notice of the company’s dating app Summer, a rebranding of former dating app Spark, which has gained traction in a saturated market namely for its appeal to younger daters.

Summer hit number one in the App Store in two markets immediately after its launch and now has more than 500,000 downloads, over a million registered users, and more than 300,000 monthly active users (just a few months later). 9Count CEO Alex Hofman told Tech Crunch that it’s “the fastest-growing dating app to hit the market since Bumble arrived in 2014.”

The global dating market continues to grow at a faster rate than ever before, with projections of total market value to more than double in the next five years.

A new study by Research and Markets detailing the growth of the online dating market globally had an optimistic outlook despite recent disappointing quarters from top dating platforms Bumble and Match Group. The value of the online dating market in 2021 was valued at $12.37 billion and is expected to grow to $28.36 billion by 2027. The online dating market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.84 percent over the period from 2022 to 2027.

Part of the reason for this growth is the popularity of dating apps, especially in countries with younger, growing populations like India and China. In addition, the proportion of single people has been rising worldwide, according to the study.

Dating app company Bumble has lowered its revenue forecasts through the end of the year, signaling that the boost from pandemic dating might be over.

Bumble adjusted its annual revenue to be between $920 million and $930 million for the year, lower than previous forecasts and market estimates of $934-$944 million. The company’s stock fell 13 percent after the news according to Reuters.

This news follows that of competitor Match Group, which also fell short of expected earnings for Q2. In the wake of the downturn, Match Group announced the lowering of its projected revenue for Q3, with a company shake-up that included halting development for metaverse dating and virtual currency and a restructuring of its executive leadership. Match Group’s stock also took a hit, dropping 20 percent in value after the company released its letter to shareholders.

Revenue growth for dating conglomerate Match Group has fallen in a disappointing second quarter for the company. The market responded and the company’s stock fell more than twenty percent, bringing its stock price down 42 percent of its value since the beginning of the year.

Match Group held its earnings call with investors, reporting revenue of $795 million compared to $804 million that analysts expected. In addition to this, Match Group lowered revenue forecasts for Q3 from $800 to $790 million according to CNBC News, which includes the impact from foreign exchange rates falling compared to the dollar. To complicate things for Match Group, it also means that there would be no growth at all between the quarters.

There were some hopeful signs despite the news. The company pointed out that overall revenue grew twelve percent compared to this time last year. In addition, the number of paid users increased 10 percent to 16.4 million according to the shareholder report, and revenue per paid user rose three percent to $15.86.

A new study found that men who pose shirtless on dating apps give the impression that they engage in risky sexual behavior, and are viewed as less competent by potential dates.

According to the study, shirtless pictures are a turnoff for women, because they assume these men are having more casual sex, which poses increased risk for the women they date. Women also tended to objectify the men in these photos, and viewed them as less competent as a result.

According to PsyPost, researchers surveyed a relatively small sample - 567 undergraduate students in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants were shown one of eight mock Tinder profiles featuring an image of the same man, a white young male from the waist up, and asked their thoughts about attractiveness, social appeal, and competence. The profiles were manipulated to emphasize differences - a muscular body vs non-muscular, shirtless vs wearing a shirt, and the person advertising in his profile that he’s looking for a relationship vs. casual sex.   

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and other popular social platforms, has frozen hiring of new staff for some of its divisions, including Facebook Dating.

Meta’s stock price is down almost 43 percent this year, and the company has gotten serious about streamlining its business. It has stopped hiring for certain engineering roles, but also for recruiters and low-level data scientists, according to The Verge. Facebook Dating has had disappointing results despite high expectations when it first launched.

Reviews show that many Facebook Dating users were having problems matching when they used the service and blamed the problem on fake profiles proliferating on the app. Considering the number of dating apps which use Facebook’s authentication system to verify new profiles, it should be easier for the company to get rid of fake accounts to create a better experience for users.