Industry

Facebook has announced the launch of Facebook Dating in Europe and the U.K. following a nine-month delay from its original debut, which was scheduled for Valentine’s Day.

The new service is part of the larger Facebook Platform, and operates much the same as it does in the U.S. and other parts of the world, according to Tech Crunch. Users can pull photos and Stories from Instagram to populate their profiles. They can also use the Secret Crush feature to identify Facebook friends and Instagram followers that you are interested in without them knowing. If you both choose each other, then you are matched and can begin chatting – otherwise, your secret crush will never know you chose them.

The online dating market is booming, and is expected to grow to $9.9 billion by 2026, thanks to leading apps like Tinder, Bumble, eHarmony, Hinge and other popular platforms.

New research by Market Growth Insight shows that the dating services market’s expected goal of $9.9 billion in 2026 is up from $6.7 billion in 2018. The dating market continues to grow with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.2% to achieve that marker. Of this, North America contributes to 37% of that growth, but Asian markets are quickly picking up speed. 

Image: Bumble

Dating platform Bumble has announced the addition of two new executives to its roster, making its C-Suite have an equal male-to-female ratio. Overall according to LinkedIn, Bumble has 926 employees and offices in Austin, London, and Moscow.

Anu Subramanian will join as Bumble’s Chief Financial Officer, and Selby Drummond will take on the position of Chief Brand Officer. Subramanian comes from the same position at Univision, where she led digital assets that included its direct-to-consumer business, according to Tech Crunch. Drummond departed Snapchat, where she had been the first-ever global head of Fashion and Beauty Partnerships. She led the launch of Snap’s fashion and shopping features, as well as initiatives for the popular Bitmoji products. Prior to that, she had been a senior fashion editor at American Vogue and was involved with events like the Met Gala as well as the magazine and website.

Match Group joins several prominent tech companies including Spotify, Epic Games and Tile to rally app developers against App Store policies and to create a fairer marketplace.

These companies have banded together to form The Coalition for App Fairness, whose mission is broader than just the App Store. According to The Verge, they aim to “create a level playing field for app businesses and give people freedom of choice on their devices.” The goal of the organization is to create a united front to protest Apple’s regulations regarding its store, essentially to amass their power against Apple. The Coalition also allows smaller developers to join so they can have some leverage against the tech giant.

Match Group criticised Apple's App Policies

Match Group CEO Shar Dubey recently voiced criticism of tech giant Apple’s policies in regard to their app store.

In an interview with Axios, she claimed that the way the store operates is “inconsistent and unfair” in terms of the percentage of revenue Apple takes from every app store purchase (30%). While this is definitely a disadvantage for Match Group’s revenue stream, Dubey pointed out that consumers lose, too because they don’t have as much choice as they otherwise would have.

When Match Group customers have issues with subscriptions or billing, they have not been able to help them directly either, and instead have to refer them to Apple for any refunds or payment issues. In other words, it creates a big headache for customers who would rather just deal with one company in one interaction, rather than going back and forth.

Popular feminist dating app Bumble is preparing for an initial public offering early next year, and is reportedly talking with banks about the plan.

The timing is still tenuous, but it was reported by Bloomberg News that the company’s valuation could be between $6 billion to $8 billion dollars. Bloomberg also noted that private equity firm Blackstone Group bought a majority stake in Bumble last year, when it was known as MagicLab. Blackstone valued the company then at $3 billion.

MacigLab was recently rebranded as Bumble by its new CEO and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who took over after Andrey Andreev resigned. Herd has made some changes including significant rebranding and folding in gay dating app Chappy to its signature Bumble dating app. Popular dating app Badoo, also founded by Andreev, is part of the Bumble suite of apps.