Online Dating

Dating apps have long used hidden scoring systems to rank users’ desirability. Tinder made headlines in 2016 when then-CEO Sean Rad revealed to Fast Company that Tinder users were assigned and matched according to an internal “Elo score.” Tinder has since retired the Elo score in favor of an updated algorithm, but it is not the only dating service that issues users an attractiveness rating.

UK-based app Once is one such service. Not only does Once use an attractiveness scale of one to five to guide its matching system, the company recently emailed its users to tell them their scores.

You swiped right, you chatted, you’re ready to take the plunge and meet in person - now what? If you’re in New York City, your next step could soon be a visit to a cafe and wine bar run by Bumble. The Austin-based company will open the space, which it has named Bumble Brew, in fall 2019 in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.

By day, Bumble Brew will be a cafe serving pastries and coffee. By night, it will transform into a wine bar serving $12 to $16 glasses of vino and a selection of small plates. Bumble intends for the 70-seat venue to be a meeting space for users of the app who are networking, on a date or meeting friends. It will also host demonstrations from female chefs, BFF parties, networking events and date nights.

The dating industry’s trial of the century is one step closer to taking place. Tinder co-founder Sean Rad’s $2 billion lawsuit against the dating app’s parent company, IAC, can move forward after a New York Supreme Court judge rejected IAC’s motion to dismiss the case. Rad and his co-plaintiffs may pursue their allegations that IAC purposely undervalued Tinder to avoid paying out billions of dollars in stock options to the dating app’s original team.

“We are pleased by the court's ruling denying IAC/Match's motion to dismiss and paving the way for this case to go to trial,'' Orin Snyder, Rad's lawyer, said in a statement. “IAC/Match robbed the Tinder founders and early employees and will now be held accountable by a jury for their multi-billion dollar scheme.”

Justine Sacco, a spokesperson for Match Group, also issued a statement: “This baseless lawsuit has no more merit today than it did a year ago when it was filed. We’re pleased the court dismissed some of these bogus claims and look forward to defeating the rest of them, both on appeal and in the trial court.”

Coffee Meets Bagel launched in 2012 as a slower-paced alternative to the superficial, swiped-based apps that dominate the dating market. Now seven years into the business, co-founders and sisters Arum Kang, Dawoon Kang and Soo Kang are seeking new ways to differentiate and monetize their product.

2018 saw big changes and big victories come to Coffee Meets Bagel. After revamping its paid subscription services, the company raised $12 million in its series B and doubled its number of users. A premium monthly membership offers users activity reports about their matches (a “bagel,” in the app’s parlance), read receipts and 6,000 beans (the in-app currency) every month. At the time of its launch, Dawoon Kang told VentureBeat the membership was the company’s “first step toward a freemium subscription model.”

In late June, a Massachusetts man pleaded guilty to sending threatening letters to OkCupid’s headquarters in Dallas, Texas, in retaliation for banning him from the dating app.

According to a report in The New York Post, Liam MacLeod was banned from the app for repeatedly violating the terms of service back in 2017. The 47 year-old man then began sending threatening letters, some with a “blood-like substance” according to The Post, and others with a “suspicious white powder.” All of the mailings were addressed to OkCupid’s Chief Executive Officer.

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.