Location

New York dating service Pique is turning back the clock on how people meet with its debut of the “Love Wall,” a tangible alternative to dating apps.

According to Newsweek, the Love Wall was created by Pique co-founders Cyrus Belsoi and Vaish Sesetty, designed as an in-person experience to help people connect. The founders saw an opportunity to create something different as people became more frustrated with dating apps.

The Love Wall is located in Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, and has generated some buzz among local singles looking for an alternative to swiping. It contains hundreds of polaroid pictures hanging from its structure, as well as a few bio details like you’d find in an online profile.

India-based dating app Schmooze just raised $4 million from Elevation Capital and other angel investors.

The meme-based dating app founded by Vidya Madhavan and Abhinav Bengaluru helps people connect based on their senses of humor and allows them to express their personalities creatively through memes. The round of funding also included investments from the founders of Ultrahuman, The Souled Store, Mosaic Wellness and Paytm, according to Economic Times.

The funding comes at a time when dating app revenue has been declining and dating app companies are struggling to better monetize their platforms. Many are turning to AI for enhanced features, like photo selection, helping users craft bios, and added safety features, hoping to attract users willing to pay for such perks.

Schmooze is also touting its AI-driven features, and said that the new funds will be used to enhance its AI engine as well as for growing the company, according to Economic Times.

Tinder has partnered with e.l.f. Cosmetics in a new collaboration to promote self-confidence and self-expression when heading out to meet someone new.

The partners are launching the “put your e.l.f. out there” Vault collection, which introduces new beauty products designed to help Tinder users “face the first date.” The collection includes three exclusive products: All Slick, No Ick Face Primer and Set-uationship Setting Mist, packaged in a “Flame Changer” makeup bag.

In addition to the exclusive products, the collaboration includes the dating app-focused Tinder Box Lip Trio, which has lip oils like Spice Things Up and Keep Your Cool. The makeup also includes a red lipliner called Red-Y for Anything.

The idea for the collaboration began with a study that found 35 percent of singles see first dates as a great opportunity to try new makeup looks. Researchers at Censuswide, a member of the British Polling Council, surveyed over 4,000 daters ages 18 and up across the UK and US in late August.

Dating app companies like Tinder and The League are betting on in-person events to drive engagement on their online platforms and help attract new users.

According to The New York Post, dating app The League organized high-end events in New York, the Hamptons and even at the U.S. Open to drive engagement on its platform as well as to generate revenue. In fact, senior VP and head of marketing Lisa Kraynak told the Post: “It’s the beginning of a hybrid model in our largest market. The future is some combination of in-person, online and artificial intelligence.”

Dating apps have seen a decline in paying users in recent quarters, leading companies to try new features and even branch out into event organizing to appeal to daters who have become burned out from swiping. This hybrid model could prove effective, since dating apps are still the most popular way to meet people, according to recent studies, but coupling that with in-person events give people a better chance at connecting.

Popular dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Grindr are building and testing out virtual wingmen and other AI-driven tools on their platforms to help generate icebreakers and offer instant feedback, according to a new feature in The Financial Times.

Grindr chief product officer AJ Balance told the Financial Times that the gay dating app’s chatbot assistant called Grindr Wingman would help users with their dating “pain points,” like helping them initiate flirty conversation via curated prompts based on user profiles and chat histories.

“It’s that friend in the bar who’s helping you to ask someone out — but in the virtual context,” Balance told FT, saying that using AI in this way could help take the hard work out of online dating.

Image: Tinder

Tinder has released new features and added perks in time for college students headed back to campus. The move signals the company’s continued priority to market to younger Gen Z singles.

One interesting perk is that Tinder will offer college students a 50% discount for any of its premium services of Plus, Gold, and Platinum, according to Tech Crunch. This comes after the dating app company has struggled to retain paying users, reporting a loss of 400,000 paying users in the last quarter.

Tinder also announced a series of updates to Tinder U, its in-app feature for college students to find others on their campuses to connect with. One new feature for Tinder U includes new badges to add to their profiles, such as graduation year, major, clubs they are a part of, and their fraternity/ sorority life.