Finances

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.”

Bumble and Serena Williams are continuing their collaboration with joint investments in two female-led companies. At Bumble’s inaugural Bumble Fund Summit in Napa, California, the company announced that Bumble Fund and Serena Ventures will back Nude Barre and Virtue Health, the winners of an in-app pitch competition run through Bumble Bizz.

Bumble Fund launched in 2018 with a mission to support female-founded and female-led businesses with early-stage investments. The fund’s first investments included a swimwear company, a prenatal and postpartum healthcare company, a beauty festival, and two other women-focused startup funds.

The Meet Group, a portfolio of mobile social entertainment apps including MeetMe, LOVOO, Skout, Tagged and Growlr, released financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2019. The company reported revenue of $49.5 million, an increase of $11.9 million (or 32 percent) from $37.6 million in the first quarter of 2018.

Other highlights from The Meet Group’s Q1 2019 financial report include:

• GAAP net income of $1.3 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $4.2 million, or a loss of $0.06 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $8.1 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $5.2 million in the prior year quarter.
• Non-GAAP net income of $7.0 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to $4.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter.

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.

Image: Sensor Tower

After more than two years in the top spot, Netflix is no longer the world’s highest-grossing non-gaming mobile app. That title now goes to Tinder, which grossed $260.7 million from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store in the first quarter of this year.

App store intelligence firm Sensor Tower recently released its rankings of the highest grossing apps in the United States and worldwide for Q1 2019. Overall, global app revenue reached $19.5 billion last quarter, up nearly 17 percent year-over-year. Consumer spending on Apple’s App Store totaled approximately $12.4 billion globally, while Google Play revenue grew 20.2 percent year-over-year to approximately $7.1 billion. The world is increasingly moving to mobile, and for companies that are prepared to capitalize on the change, the potential for profit is huge.