Finances

Dating app S’More announced that it raised $2.1 million in VC funding, and plans to expand its team and create original content for digital platforms and TV networks.

According to Tech Crunch, the app has seen a boon in subscribers since the pandemic hit. S’More stands for “something more,” advertising that its platform for more serious daters. Studies conducted in the past few months show that COVID-19 has changed attitudes towards online dating, and that singles are now looking for relationships rather than hookups and taking their time by virtual dating before agreeing to meet in person. 

S’More has capitalized on this trend. The company just launched a redesign in January including a virtual chat feature which, similar to its profile photos, blurs the screen for participants until you get to know each other. (The more you talk, the clearer your date’s image becomes.) The app also added real-time conversation prompts and the ability for its users to pay to promote their own profiles.

Bumble Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd became a billionaire this week after Bumble made its stock market debut on February 10^th.

The company offered shares initially at $43 a piece (up from its proposed initial amount of $28 to $30 per share), valuing the female-focused dating app conglomerate at over $8 billion. Shares surged immediately, trading at more than $76 each, making the firm worth $13 billion by the end of the day, according to CNN.

Bumble is one of the most high-profile IPOs in the tech industry this year, and its 31 year-old founder is an anomaly among tech CEOs as CNN points out – she doesn’t come from a STEM background, she didn’t raise billions in venture capital, but now she is a young female billionaire.

Dating app Bumble set the terms to raise as much as $1 billion for its initial public offering. The company is expected to make its stock market debut later this month.

According to Bloomberg, Bumble plans to sell a total of 34.5 million shares for $28 to $30 per share to reach its goal. This information was disclosed earlier this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If shares go for $30, Bumble would be valued at over $6 billion including debt after the listing, according to Bloomberg. This is based on the outstanding Class A shares in its listing document.

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has notified dating app Grindr that it could be fined as much as $11.7 million U.S. dollars for sharing the personal data of its users to third parties without their consent. The company has until February 15th to respond to the notice, at which time the Authority will make its final decision.

According to the report from Associated Press, Grindr’s data sharing practice was in violation of European Union privacy rules (GDPR), which requires app companies to let users know how their personal information is being shared as well as obtaining their consent. The Norwegian Consumer Council alleged that Grindr was sharing user information with third party companies so that they would be able to send more targeted ads to users of the app. However, Grindr’s customers weren’t given a thorough explanation of how their data was being used or asked if they consented to sharing it.

Dating app Once, which dubs itself the “slow” dating app, has been sold to conglomerate Dating Group for $18 million in cash and stock, according to Tech Crunch.

Dating Group owns Dating.com, Dil Mil, AnastasiaDate and ChinaLove among other online dating platforms, competing directly with Bumble and Match Group’s suite of apps as well as Facebook Dating. It currently has offices in seven countries, and around 73 million users across its portfolio. Once comes with about 9 million users.

Once positioned itself as a more purpose-driven dating app, offering only one match per day to its users, who then have 24 hours to message that match to show interest, or they disappear. This offering was an intentional tactic to compete with the frenetic pace of apps like Tinder where people are inclined to swipe through dozens of profiles each minute rather than spending time really looking at each one. On the other hand, Once forced its users to consider one match at a time.

Bumble Inc. made its IPO filing public Friday January 15th, following rumors that the company would go public in time for Valentine’s Day. The app is expected to list on NASDAQ under the BMBL ticker.

According to The New York Post, Bumble reported revenue of $488.9 million in 2019, and $376.6 million in revenue between January 29 and September 30th of 2020. (Fourth quarter results have not been reported.) The pandemic has helped fuel dating app sign-ups and activity, with people using them to connect in a time of social distancing. Bumble offers an in-app video chat feature, which has been incredibly popular the last several months as people were in lockdown.