Matchmakers

Match Group is serious about its expansion in the Asian market. It just announced the launch of its new app Pairs Engaged – a “marriage concierge” service to compete with the country’s popular arranged marriage industry.

Pairs Engaged is the opposite of the company’s star dating app Tinder. There’s no casual glancing through photos and swiping left and right. Instead, the customers Match Group is targeting are looking to get married within a year and are serious about the search process.

The dating world just got a little weirder. A British divorcee seeking a wealthy boyfriend via a ritzy matchmaking agency sued the company over a lack of suitable dates - and was awarded over $16,000 for her trouble.

Tereza Burki, a 47-year-old from London, joined premium dating agency Seventy Thirty in 2013. According to reports, she was looking for a “sophisticated gentleman” with “a lifestyle similar or more affluent than her own” and “multiple residences.” Lemarc Thomas, Seventy Thirty's managing director at the time, assured Burki that the service only dealt in the “creme de la creme” of daters and had “a substantial number” of potential matches who met her requirements.

Burki shelled out a staggering £12,600 ($16,141 USD) to join, an investment she soon regretted.

We all have that friend: the one who keeps dating the wrong person, over and over again, and is completely oblivious to where they’re going wrong (even though it couldn’t be clearer to you). As you hear about failed date after failed date, it takes every ounce of restraint you have to stop from grabbing their phone and swiping for them.

Now you can do exactly that, thanks to an app called Wingman, and you won’t risk pissing your pals off in the process.

Wingman puts the decision-making power in the hands of your most trusted (and meddlesome) mates. To get started, download the app, invite the single friend most in need of your Cupid skills, and create a profile for them. Once they approve of what you've written, it goes public and you can begin browsing matches.

Though a dating app may seem like the closest thing tech-obsessed Millennials have to a matchmaker, the ancient art of playing cupid isn’t dead yet.

Wingman, a new mobile matchmaking app, recently conducted its first Wingman Assisted Romance Survey. The study reveals that most Millennials (90%), whether they’re single or in a relationship, say they would enjoy acting as matchmaker for their friends. And what’s more, they’re confident about their skills. Almost 70% said they thought they’d be better at picking matches for their friends than their friends would be at picking their own dates.

“A large majority of the people we spoke to at length felt that they knew their friends well enough to pick people they should meet and many felt they absolutely knew them better than their friends know themselves,” said Wingman founder Tina Wilson. “Millennials tend to be confident and that confidence clearly extends to the widespread belief we found that many millennials are convinced they can be great matchmakers for their friends." 

Modern romance looks more than a little different from love stories of the past. Instead of meeting at religious services or social dances, today’s singles swipe and click their way to dates. Many have embraced it as the new normal, and there’s no shortage of dating services eager for their business.

But other singles are clinging steadfastly to an old-fashioned approach. They’d rather meet in-person or through friends, and remain skeptical of dating apps and websites. For the naysayers, there are services like My Friend’s Friend.

My Friend’s Friend is helping singles in Perth, Australia, find love with a Facebook friend request. Curious daters add My Friend’s Friend as a friend on the social network, then receive a message from a woman who goes by Lucy Date (though the name is fake, she’s a real matchmaker who has spent years playing Cupid for friends and clients).

You imagine that life is good for a Google executive. He has a killer job. He owns a big house or a stylish penthouse apartment. He drives a Tesla. He has more cash than he knows what to do with. He regularly takes vacations and buys from big-name brands.

That guy can’t possibly have trouble finding a date, right?

Business Insider tells a different story. The website recently sat down with Charlee Brotherton, founder and CEO of Executive Matchmakers, and Megan Buquen, the company’s Vice President, for a peek behind the curtain.