Milestones

Image: Zoosk

Online dating conglomerate Spark Networks announced its purchase of Zoosk for $258 million USD. The popular dating app was acquired with a combination of cash and stock, and Spark will have full ownership of Zoosk shares.

According to the terms of the deal, Spark will issue 12,980,000 ADSs (American Depository Shares) to former Zoosk shareholders, valued at $152 million based on the closing price of Spark ADSs of $11.78 on June 28, 2019. It also provides for a cash consideration of $150 million, subject to adjustment, according to the company’s press release. Former Zoosk shareholders owned 49 percent of the company.

Andrey Andreev, who owns popular dating apps Badoo, Bumble, Lumen and Chappy, has created a new holding company called Magic Lab.

Magic Lab seems to be positioning itself to compete directly with Match Group by offering a similar setup: a suite of diverse apps aimed at different dating markets. However, Magic Labs stated how it plans to distinguish itself in its company mission, taking aim at dating app culture overall: “The brands will focus on marketing to solve societal issues such as misogyny, stereotypes, self-doubt and ageism.”

Chinese dating app Tantan, which was recently removed from the Chinese app stores, is on the rise in India. The popular app has gained traction among singles and is now the fifth most popular dating app in the country.

“India is one of the fastest growing internet markets in the world, hence it’s very important to be present and win in the Indian market,” Tantan told Quartz. “After doing a soft launch in India, we learned more about the market and users which helped us in serving the market better.”

Tinder plans to launch a new, scaled-down version of the app called Tinder Lite.

According to Tech Crunch, the new app is catering to markets where bandwidth, data usage and storage space have all been challenging, which means customers to pay a premium for access to mobile data. Some of the regions Tinder is targeting include India and Southeast Asia, where parent company Match Group has appointed three new executives and dedicated more resources to growing its brands.

Tinder Lite was initially mentioned in an investor call according to Tech Crunch. However, Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg shared few details about the launch or the app. There was no specific date mentioned, and no details about what features would be removed, but likely the trademark swiping and matching would remain as key elements of the Tinder Lite experience.

Match Group recently paid $9 million in stock awards to Tinder employees, thanks to the stellar growth of its most valuable dating app. But this good news could sour for the online dating giant if it helps former Tinder execs win their lawsuit, led by Tinder’s co-founder Sean Rad.

Rad and other former Tinder employees filed a lawsuit against Match Group last year, claiming it devalued Tinder stock options to avoid paying them billions in stock. The new hefty $9.4 million payout to current Tinder employees, based on the popular dating app’s performance over the last year, could be an indication that Match Group might have undervalued Tinder, as Rad argues in the lawsuit.

U.S. Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is making history as the first candidate to have met his spouse on a dating app. The young millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana and rising star in the sea of Democratic hopefuls disclosed that he and his husband met on Hinge.

In a profile in The New York Times in 2018, Buttegieg’s husband Chasten Glezman said he downloaded Hinge because he “wanted a platform where you’re not necessarily inundated with hookup culture and sex.” Hinge has marketed itself as a dating app for more serious daters since its inception, and has recently doubled down on this effort with a redesign aimed at helping users find relationships so they can delete the app.