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After a rough patch at the end of November where the newly launched stock for dating app Grindr hit an all-time low, it is now looking more promising for potential investors.

Seeking Alpha reported that shares on November 29th opened at $8, reaching a high of $9 before falling to $6.52 in the late afternoon. The stock had only debuted on November 18, following its merger with SPAC Tiga Acquisition Corp which valued the combined company at $2.1 billion. Shares of the combined company rose over 500 percent before closing its first day at $36.50, but then plunged the next day and did not recover through the end of November and into December.

Grindr however released its third quarter earnings report in early December, noting that revenue for the quarter was up 32 percent year-over-year to $50.4 million, and year-to-date revenue was up to $140.5 million. 

Tinder has launched a new ad campaign in India called You Up, aimed directly at young singles to show them the fun, adventurous side of dating apps.

The ad focuses on a young woman looking for exciting new experiences, not necessarily a relationship, and there’s a magical element to her journey. The ad opens with her matching with a man, and she reaches into the app screen to take his hand as they jump off a building and into a karaoke bar where they have a fun, flirtatious night.

The next scene shows her matching with a woman, where they are in a parking lot dancing and then take a drive together, a slower and more romantic experience. She matches with another man after this, where they take a swim in the ocean before she drops him at the train station - and before meeting her next date.

Dating app Bumble has launched a new series of videos catering to countries within the Asian-Pacific (APAC) market, specifically India, Singapore, and The Philippines, to lessen the stigma surrounding its dating app premise: that women make the first move.

APAC countries, especially India, are fast-growing markets for dating apps as younger daters opt for technology over traditional dating methods like matchmaking. However, approaches to dating and matchmaking vary greatly between countries according to Lucille McCart, communications director for Bumble APAC said in an interview with The Drum. For example, religion and religious customs are more important in Singapore and the Philippines compared to markets like Australia and New Zealand.

As a result, Bumble has launched new videos catering to specific markets. The videos for Singapore and the Philippines are called “It Starts With Hello,” designed to create more levels of comfort for women starting a chat over the app. “In Singapore, 87% of people surveyed believed that men should take the lead and only 7% said that this is what is expected of women. Things are slowly changing in this regard, and Bumble is here to advocate for further progress,” McCart told The Drum.

OkCupid recently surveyed its users regarding their attitudes about dating going into 2023, finding that singles are more interested in open relationships and discussions about sex.

OkCupid had nearly 10 billion responses to matching questions in 2022 which revealed what singles will be looking for in 2023.

In addition to the pandemic’s impact on dating habits in general, younger daters are driving conversation around mental health, sober dating, and attitudes towards relationships and sex, according to OkCupid’s blog. Open relationships have been around for a while, but now young daters are challenging the stigma that has always been attached to them. Over the summer, OkCupid found that there was a 26 percent increase in mentions of “ENM” or “ethical non-monogamy” compared to the beginning of 2022, and a 42 percent increase compared to last summer.

Attitudes towards open relationships have shifted globally – with 30 percent of OkCupid users saying they would be interested in an open relationship (about 8.5 million singles), with Gen Z and Millennial daters being the most interested in ENM. The numbers are highest among European daters, with 49 percent of singles in Spain saying they would consider an open relationship, 46 percent in Switzerland, 40 percent in the Netherlands, 39 percent in Germany, and 37 percent in Italy. Brazil, Australia, and Canada had 35 percent, 34 percent and 31 percent of users interested in open relationships, respectively.

An Illinois Court will hear a case against Match Group’s Tinder app over how it collects and stores the biometric data of its users.

According to Global Dating Insights, the way Tinder stores sensitive data such as physical characteristics and body measurements violate the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Tinder (and parent company Match Group) failed to gather signed consent from Illinois users before retaining facial scans. This data is collected as part of Tinder’s photo verification feature, a new safety measure launched by the company to help reduce fake profiles and potential scammers on the app.

Illinois has specific regulations regarding not only the storage of the biometric data, but also disclosing information to the user about how that data will be handled and managed. Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that Tinder’s process poses a security risk because of what might happen if the data were to be obtained by hackers. As Global Dating Insights points out, biometric data is extremely sensitive data as it is a permanent identifier of the user, as opposed to passwords which can be changed.

Match’s annual Singles in America study found that one in five singles are hesitant to have sex in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which protected abortion rights for women across the country. Singles are also changing their habits due to the rising costs associated with dating.

Match found that four out of every five respondents have adjusted their behavior as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, including increasing their use of condoms and having a greater fear of getting pregnant.

The survey found that seven in ten singles still maintain that sex is a good thing and improves their mental health, and 71 percent feel better after having sex. Still, they are more hesitant to have sex because of the Supreme Court decision. Many states are enacting legislation to either restrict or ban abortions altogether, placing more of a burden on single women who are of child-bearing age to seek medical care.