Finances

Dating app Grindr announced it will become a public company through a merger with Tiga Acquisition, and that the combined companies have been valued at $2.1 billion.

According to Bloomberg News, Tiga is a special acquisition company and isn’t offering any private investment in public equity (PIPE) deals but will provide Grindr with an estimated $384 million in cash proceeds, which includes $284 million of Tiga’s cash in trust plus up to $100 million in a forward purchase agreement. The company will use the funds to pay down debt and invest in future growth.

Grindr had several offers from other SPACs before merging with Tiga.

Regulators in The Netherlands have just rejected another rules revision from Apple regarding how it will manage third-party payment platforms for dating apps in its app store.

According to Apple Insider, The Authority for Consumers and Markets said that the changes Apple made in its latest rules submission in March were improved but still insufficient. In that revision, Apple had allowed dating apps to use third-party payment systems, but developers had to choose between either the third-party payment system or Apple’s system, not both. Apple also required that the apps would have to notify users that they would be using a system that Apple didn’t control. 

What continues to be a sticking point for the tech giant as well is the commission it charges all developers who place apps in the app store. Apple said that even if dating apps use a third-party payment system, they would still charge developers a 27 percent commission to be able to operate in the app store. (Currently, Apple charges a 30 percent commission to developers and all in-app payments must go through its app store.)

New Match Group CEO Bernard Kim

Image: Match Group

Bernard Kim was named the new chief executive officer of Match Group, succeeding Shar Dubey who will be stepping down from the position at the end of May.

Kim is the former head of Zynga and oversaw global marketing, user acquisition, revenue, and product management among other divisions. According to Match Group’s press release, the company describes him as “instrumental in Zynga’s explosive growth” and “pivotal in the company’s expansion to new markets such as blockchain and hyper-casual gaming, as well as new platforms like the Nintendo Switch, Snapchat, and smart home devices.”

The move isn’t surprising, considering the pandemic has shifted the focus of dating apps towards more interactive and entertainment-based features. Match Group has rolled out several new options in its Explore section, including two seasons of its original interactive series Swipe Night, virtual speed dating with Blind Date, Swipe Party, and now Festival Mode to help concert-goers connect in real life. 

Mad Realities, a production company that funded a dating reality show with cryptocurrency, has raised $6 million from investors to expand its platform, including from reality star and socialite Paris Hilton. 

The company’s first show, Proof of Love, features a bachelor or bachelorette who gets to choose from 4 eligible singles, much like a typical dating reality show. According to Fortune, the difference is that Mad Realities’ show is built around its audience, and those who pay to participate (by purchasing the company’s NFTs) get to choose who competes, be a host themselves, or put a friend on the show, depending on how much crypto they are willing to pay.

Episodes are streamed live and posted on YouTube later, and while the show itself has much lower ratings than the average network show (about 6,400 views total), it has built an avid fan base that’s willing to invest and participate, including 1,000 active members in its group chat.

Match Group has won the lawsuit it brought against dating app Muzmatch for trademark infringement violation.

According to The Guardian, the UK intellectual property and enterprise court ruled in favor of Match, which owns popular apps like Tinder and Hinge. Muzmatch, a niche dating app for Muslim singles, could now be forced to change its name or pay damages, according to The New York Times.

Match Group claimed in the lawsuit that consumers might think Muzmatch was a “sub-brand” of theirs targeting Muslim daters because of its name. Deputy high court judge Nicholas Caddick QC agreed, stating that using “match” in its name “would have led some consumers to assume that the goods and services offered by Muzmatch were somehow connected with or derived from Match,” according to The Guardian.

Match Group triumphed over federal regulators in a lawsuit that would have had them pay $844 million for failing to remove fake messages and profiles from its Match dating app.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade delivered the ruling and cited the Communications Decency Act, deeming Match a publisher, which means that since the company isn’t creating the profiles but instead just publishing them, they are ultimately protected from blame.  

In 2019, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Match for fraud, saying that it exposed customers to increased risk of being scammed and engaged in other deceptive and unfair practices, including tricking hundreds of thousands of consumers into buying subscriptions. According to Tech Crunch, the agency claimed Match knowingly profited from these practices, and it made deceiving users a core part of its business practices. It also said that 25 to 30 percent of registrations on Match came from scammers.