BLK

BLK dating app has announced a partnership with former First Lady Michelle Obama’s voting initiative “When We All Vote” to help drive people to register and vote, ahead of the midterm elections.

According to Cassius Life, the popular dating app for black singles created an in-app Election Center, which prompts users automatically when they open the app to engage with a choice – “Share Your Voice” or “Shift the Culture.” When users select “Share Your Voice” they are asked to choose an issue that is important to them, such as “universal healthcare” or “affordable housing,” which will be displayed on their profiles to engage other users.

If users prefer not to pick an issue, they can choose “Shift the Culture,” which provides a link to register to vote. BLK also provides push notifications, so users know important dates and deadlines, from the last day to register to vote to when election day is.

Dating app BLK, which serves the community of Black daters, announced the launch of “Break the Bank,” a new finance-related campaign initiative.

The campaign promotes “financial literacy” and provides tips to users on how to weather inflation, according to The Drum. It was developed with help from networking collective The Gathering Spot and will be rolled out nationwide in time for Black Business Month. According to BLK, the idea came from the fact that black-owned businesses are particularly vulnerable right now, and are shutting down at twice the average national rate.

The Gathering Spot will send in-app notifications of financial advice to users, with topics like “How Increased Rates will Affect Your Money Flow” and “Tips to Grow Your Small Business to the Next Level.” The app will also be encouraging users to shop at Black-owned businesses with its #BlackSummerSpend campaign on social media channels.

BLK Profile Badges

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BLK, a dating app for black singles, is rolling out an array of new profile stickers for users to highlight who they are and spark conversations with potential matches.

The company is offering a range of badges to help users identify themselves through more than just pictures, a feature many dating apps offer, but this one particularly unique to the black experience. BLK also wanted to add to the community building on its platform, which took off along with the racial justice movement in 2020 when users were sharing resources with each other over the app and engaging in conversations about their experiences.

The new badges are artistic and whimsical and include choices such as “Black biz owner” and “Community activist” to describe work, as well as “Caribbean Descent” and “Afro Latino” to identify cultural roots, and “Naturally Dope” to highlight allegiance to the natural hair movement. Other identifiers like “Poly” and “Transgender” are available to choose from too, according to Business Insider, for a total of 30 badges. The stickers were designed by Colombian-born and now New York-based artist Leonel Gonzalez.

Online dating company Match Group’s stock rose after details of its first quarter earnings report were announced. Shares were up 5.3 percent to $146.30 according to recent trading reports.

Barron’s reported that Match Group posted revenue of $668 million for the quarter, up significantly from original Wall Street forecasts of $650.7 million. And profits were also up 57 cents a share, higher than the expected 40 cents per share. Match Group owns a range of popular dating apps, including Tinder, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Hinge as well as niche apps like BLK and OurTime.

Tinder is still the star of Match Group’s offerings and its main revenue stream, with 18 percent growth in revenue for the dating app. However, Match Group noted that it has seen 30 percent growth in the rest of its business. Notably, some of its lesser-known apps like Hinge are seeing a surge of growth as the company invests more in its other offerings, too.

Match Group shared its fourth quarter earnings this week, offering investors some cautious optimism on what to expect in 2021. 

Last year the company saw record highs in new users and activity, but faced with economic recessions and a global pandemic, revenue growth remained uncertain. The company delivered slightly better than expected results for the last quarter of 2020, with revenue of $651.4 million for the quarter, up from $547.2 million. Analysts had been projecting $649 million according to Market Watch. Match Group also reported net income of $140.6 million, up from $94.7 million this time last year. 

BLK, a dating app specifically for black daters, has become one of the fastest-growing apps in the Match Group suite of dating apps. Match Group currently owns a substantial portion of the dating app market, including Tinder, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Hinge among others.

According to The Grio, during the first two weeks when COVID-19 was spreading and people were sheltering at home, BLK saw an 18% increase in daily activity. Now seven months into the pandemic, there is a 38% increase in activity month over month. BLK launched in 2017, and since has grown to over four million users.