Bumble Inc

Thirteen former employees are speaking out about Badoo, Andrey Andreev’s dating-focused social network and parent company to Bumble. In an expose published by Forbes, the employees describe a lengthy history of workplace misconduct, including sexism, racism, drug use, wild parties and a possible tax evasion scheme.

Many of the lurid details revealed in the Forbes report occurred during Badoo's period of rapid growth from 2010 to 2012. Badoo launched its iPhone app in 2010. The following year, the company soared from 20 million user signups to 100 million in four months, and earned $200 million in revenue. As Badoo grew, so did its salacious reputation. It is estimated that in 2018, Badoo had just over $300 million in revenue.

A new study found that dating app users tripled in India over the course of 2018, thanks mainly to women.

Dating app usage in the Indian market has huge potential, and not just because of the impressive growth over the last year. Overall user penetration still rather low at 2.7 percent as of 2018, but it’s expected to hit 3.2 percent by 2023 according to online market researcher Statista. Analysts also expect the market to be valued at $100 million in the next five to eight years, according to a report in LiveMint.

Image: Bumble

You swiped right, you chatted, you’re ready to take the plunge and meet in person - now what? If you’re in New York City, your next step could soon be a visit to a cafe and wine bar run by Bumble. The Austin-based company will open the space, which it has named Bumble Brew, in fall 2019 in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.

By day, Bumble Brew will be a cafe serving pastries and coffee. By night, it will transform into a wine bar serving $12 to $16 glasses of vino and a selection of small plates. Bumble intends for the 70-seat venue to be a meeting space for users of the app who are networking, on a date or meeting friends. It will also host demonstrations from female chefs, BFF parties, networking events and date nights.

Dating apps are incredibly popular, but as they saturate the U.S. market, the significant growth of the last few years is not expected to continue through 2019. Research analysts at eMarketer found that while the number of people use dating apps in the country has grown to a whopping 25 million, the market demand is starting to slow down.

According to Business Insider, apps like Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid, (all owned by Match Group), ^[1] have contributed to the growing interest in dating apps, launching new features every few months to attract new (and young) users.

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.”

Russia is requiring 175 companies to share user data with its government law enforcement and intelligence services, including with FSB, the successor of the KGB spy agency. Listed among the companies was popular dating app Tinder.

Russia’s regulatory agency also required the dating app to store six months’ worth of user data on Russian servers, including direct messages, photos and videos. Three other dating apps, Mamba, Wamba and Badoo, currently share user information with Russian government officials, according to CNN.