Bumble

Dating app Hinge announced that it is adding a $1 million fund for in-person events and social group gatherings in New York, Los Angeles, and London.

According to CNBC, the money is to subsidize free or lower cost events to attract young people. The fund is part of their One More Hour social impact initiative which the company launched last year. Hinge says it recognizes Gen Z’s need for more tangible ways to connect than just over a dating app, and wants to create more spaces for them to get together.

The groups will focus on a range of activities that include food, nature, and reading, for example. The purpose of the groups is to highlight an interest to attract people and give them something to do while they are meeting other people, taking the pressure off.

Bumble announced it has added ID Verification in addition to other new safety-related features to attract singles back to its app.

The new verification feature lets users submit a photo of a government-issued ID to prove they are who they say they are, and then they can earn a verified badge for their profile, according to Tech Crunch.

The female-centered app is appealing its core demographic with the announcement – focusing on its female clientele who are looking for more safety features on dating apps. ID Verification is available in 11 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, France and India. The company intends to roll out in more countries in the coming months, according to The Seattle Times.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd announced that she will be returning to the company as CEO in March.

Wolfe Herd left the position early last year and Lidiane Jones, the former CEO of Slack, took the reins at Bumble. Jones oversaw a major reboot of the app which deviated from its original female-first approach, allowing men to message women first. During her tenure, the company went through staff layoffs and a significant drop in stock value as well.

Jones said she was leaving “for personal reasons” according to The Verge.

Match Group said its plans for the future will be centered around AI, according to remarks company executives made at Investor Day. 

Executives from some of its more popular apps like Hinge, Tinder, OkCupid and more, teased how they were planning to implement AI on their platforms with the goal of transforming the way users interact with them, according to CNN. For example, Justin McLeod, the CEO of Hinge, said that they intend to “fully embrace” AI to personalize matching and to create smarter algorithms, as well as implementing AI coaching for struggling singles.

“While AI is not going to be a panacea when it comes to the very deeply and personal problem of love,” McLeod said at Investor Day, “I can tell you that it is going to transform the dating app experience, taking it from a do-it-yourself platform to an expertly guided journey that leads to far better outcomes and much better value to our daters.”

The CFO and CMO of Bumble have announced their departures for early 2025, a shakeup for the dating app company.

According to Seeking Alpha, Bumble’s Chief Financial Officer Anu Subramanian will continue in her role until March and Chief Marketing Officer Selby Drummond will leave in January. The company has started a search process to replace Subramanian, who joined the company in 2020 and led it through its initial public offering.

According to Tip Ranks, the moves caused the share price for Bumble to increase, but overall the stock has declined almost 40% just in the last year.

The share price of Match Group Inc. dropped after a disappointing third quarter earnings report, signaling that consumer interest in paying for dating app subscriptions continues to wane.

According to Business Insider, Match Group shares dropped more than 18 percent after the company reported that paying users on its most popular app Tinder fell 4 percent in the third quarter from the same time period last year, to $9.9 million. The revenue decline for Tinder has been continuous the past few quarters, and Match Group says it expects this slowdown to continue in the fourth quarter.

Hinge continues to be the star of Match Group’s offerings, growing 36 percent year-over-year, though its userbase is still a fraction of Tinder’s.