Types (Niche)

After purchasing 62 percent of the gay dating app Grindr last year for $88 million, Beijing Kunlun Tech is shelling out another $152 million to buy the remaining percentage. The Chinese tech company is now the sole owner of Grindr, which reaches 27 million users in nearly 200 countries.

Unlike Taiwan, which recently legalized same-sex marriage, China affords few legal rights to LGBT citizens. Nevertheless, companies like Kunlun are beginning to realize the enormous potential of LGBT customers. Kunlun hopes to expand Grindr’s reach throughout Asia and take on China’s homegrown gay dating app, Blued.

“It is of strategic importance for us to fully engage in the daily operations of Grindr and make it our development milestone,” Kunlun said in a statement. “[With the deal], we also aim to be a world leading social media company in the future, and to expand our platforms into film, streaming and animation.”

Slack, a popular messaging app used in workplaces to schedule meetings and chat with your co-workers, has entered into new territory. Now, you can date your co-workers over Slack, too.

Dating app Feeld announced its integration onto the Slack platform late April. It works like this: when you download the Feeld app in Slack, you can let the app know who of your colleagues you’re interested in. If Feeld notices your co-worker has admitted to being attracted to you, too, it will let both of you know and you can take it from there (and start your flirtatious messaging over Slack). If your co-worker doesn’t return the affection, he’s never alerted to your interest.

So essentially, you can get confirmation of your crush without him or her knowing.

So you’re considering a foray into the weird and wonderful world of sugar babies, but you’re not sure where to start. You’re in luck - SeekingArrangement, a leading sugar daddy dating site with over 10 million members, is hosting a seminar for anyone interested in exploring “mutually beneficial relationships.”

The Sugar Baby Summit, which will take place in London on May 18, aims to help aspiring sugar babies develop the skills needed to succeed. The event promises experienced sugar baby coaches, as well as a roster of financial, career, and relationship experts. Each course offers practical lessons in sugaring as well as general advice designed to improve your life overall.

Some of the speakers presenting at the Sugar Baby Summit are:

Tinder has a reputation as a hook-up app, but what about people who want to find lasting relationships? Should they look elsewhere, asking friends to set them up or striking up conversation at a bar instead of going online? How does Tinder really compare to people who meet the old-fashioned way – in real life?

A new study (commissioned and released by Tinder) shows that contrary to stereotypes, many people use Tinder with the intent of finding a relationship. And for those who prefer the real life approach, who proclaim it to be more genuine or organic, it seems this is not the reality, either.

Thanks to Tinder, we may now have a glimpse of what daters really want.

Online dating has become more accessible than ever, but unfortunately, it’s also created a culture of ghosting and messaging among users that often doesn't lead to an actual date. Apps like Tinder made online dating easy and fun, but many daters have become frustrated with the game-like interface and the lack of any real connection with other daters. Many apps are trying to address this pain point by helping daters meet in person more quickly, which is key to forming romantic connections.

Dating app Stay launched last month in the iTunes store (called "Stay Dating" on iTunes) with a focus on in-person connections. The company encourages all matches to schedule dates; it's built into the app’s functionality.

With Stay, users can’t message right away, eliminating the ghosting problem that is so problematic with other dating apps. Users can only suggest times and potential locations to matches to set up a date. Once scheduled, users can start messaging (but only 24 hours before the date). If a user cancels the date or fails to show and gets reported, that user is blocked from viewing matches over the next 24 hours.

Tinders Matches Up For

Dating app giant Tinder is rolling out more options, testing a new feature to help its users better connect – this time spontaneously and in-person. The new feature dubbed “Matches Up For” allows users to set a status of what they are interested in doing that night, and see who from their matches is available to meet.

Matches Up For is intended to encourage users to connect in person. Tinder has been criticized for its “game-like” premise, and users have become frustrated with the flaky behavior of other app users. (Messaging with matches on Tinder often doesn’t lead to a date.) While Tinder still has the largest pool of singles among the many dating apps on the market, new apps are offering more relationship-focused features that encourage real-life connections, something Tinder users feel is lacking.

With Tinder’s new feature, users can let potential matches know if they are free that night, and can choose from a list of activities they’d be interested in doing.