Types (Niche)

Founder of Blued - Baoli Ma

Baoli Ma, the founder of BlueCity Holdings which operates Blued, China’s most popular gay dating app, has stepped down from his position as chairman and CEO after the company was privatized and delisted from NASDAQ. The company has not yet named a successor.

According to the South China Morning Post, Ma hinted that it was difficult to run a gay dating platform in the country’s current environment, where the government is cracking down on LGBTQ content online and removing gay dating apps including Grindr from its app stores. Last year, Chinese conglomerate Tencent erased over a dozen LGBTQ university groups from WeChat. Same-sex marriage is currently illegal in China as well.

The country has enforced new rules regarding privacy, data management and algorithmic recommendations for the past few years, which have especially affected gay dating platforms like Blued. But the app has run into controversies on its own, too. In 2019, Blued suspended new user registrations for one week after a report came out that some underage users contracted HIV on dates set up via the app.

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 Bumble wants to extend its platform beyond dating and into social networking and virtual friendships through a new community feature – now dubbed “Hive.”

Hive is currently being tested, the company revealed in a recent earnings call with investors. While the company’s revenue projections have been lowered through the end of the year in part due to the app being pulled from Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine, it is moving ahead on development projects.

Social networking has become an important part of Bumble’s growth strategy. Hive is in essence a revamping of its Bumble BFF friend-finding feature, and will offer things like group chat, polls and video calls to help people better connect over the app, according to Tech Crunch. The article pointed out that Hive focuses on helping people find “platonic connections through small communities.” In other words, Bumble is focusing on making the feature community-driven where people can drop in and out of conversations depending on their shared interests. 

Hinge announced a new feature called Not-so-Frequently Asked Questions to help its users discuss sensitive topics when they aren’t quite sure how to approach the subject.

The new feature is designed with LGBTQ+ daters in mind according to Gizmodo, and aims to help answer the questions many people have but that they are afraid to ask, like questions around substance abuse, gender identity, or even how to set up a date with your ex’s ex.

Some personal subjects have traditionally been off limits when you are first meeting someone or striking up a conversation over a dating app, but Hinge wants to change this. Important topics require discussion up front before delving into a new relationship – like questions about faith, substance abuse, sexual identity, and sexual exploration. Plus, discussing personal topics honestly helps people better connect, which is one of Hinge’s main promises.

New dating app Desti puts TikTok-style videos front and center, with a focus on local places to meet up IRL.

Desti is short for “destination,” and the app gives users a chance to match with others based on preferred date destinations. When scrolling through the app, users see videos of venues with the poster’s profile in the corner, according to Tech Crunch.

“We decided to bet on short-form video being the future,” Nick Dominguez, COO and lead designer/developer of Desti said in an interview with TechCrunch.

Meta announced it will be shutting down Tuned, its app designed for couples, in mid-September. As of the end of July, it is no longer allowing new users to sign up for the service.

Tuned was launched in April 2020 when Covid lockdowns were taking place around the world. It was positioned as a dating app to help couples better communicate by giving them a platform to exchange notes, photos, voice messages and videos, as well as share music via a Spotify integration. Tuned also let users set their moods and supplied a “check-in” feature with prompts so they could have a starting point to talk about their feelings.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to connect with couples. Tech Crunch pointed out that the platform was removed from Facebook Dating and other Meta platforms, which could have impacted its success.