Badoo Information, Statistics, Facts and History

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Badoo History Summary

Badoo was launched in 2006 by Andrey Andreevh in Moscow, Russia. Badoo.com started off as a dating website but they soon also launched a Facebook app and thanks to some viral posts by 2012 had reached the rank of 17 of the most popular Facebook apps worldwide. In 2012 Badoo.com also officially launched it's website in the United States. Their iPhone app and then the Android app soon followed.

On the Badoo dating app or website users can create an account via their email address or Facebook account. Badoo is a freemium dating service which allows all users to use the basic features for free like reading and sending messages, searching for members, uploading photos and videos, and chatting (via Badoo Live). Like other dating apps Badoo also offers a swiping feature called Encounters. Swiping right on a photo expresses interest and if both members express interest, each will be notified. The paid upgrade options (which uses credits that members can purchase) gives members enhanced features, including getting priority display in Encounters, and being listed at the top of search results.

Badoo also has invested heavily in safe dating. Members and their photos are verified by a team of 5,000 moderators. Badoo also includes a selfie request button which can be used during chats to prove to the other member that they are the person in their photos.

In 2019 Badoo became part of Magic Lab, a new holding company for dating brands that Andrey Andreev has either founded or is in partnership with their founders.

Badoo Facts By Year

2019

• General Information
  • A feature called Private Detector that uses AI will shield Badoo users from unsolicited lewd photographs sent through messages. [2]
  • In June for their Date Honestly marketing campaign Badoo updated their logo to be a heart combined with a smile. [3]
  • Badoo has 425 million users worldwide, is available in 190 countries, and made 4 billion matches this past year. [3]
  • Badoo became part of a holding company called Magic Lab which was created as a holding company for dating brands that Andrey Andreevh has invested in. [3]
  • In an expose published by Forbes, 13 employees describe a lengthy history of workplace misconduct, including sexism, racism, drug use, wild parties and a possible tax evasion scheme. [4]
  • Badoo has about 600 employees with their main headquarters located in London, England. [4]
  • It is estimated that in 2018, Badoo had just over $300 million in revenue. [4]
  • In the last 5 years Badoo has had about 221 million downloads (Jan 2014 to June 2019). [4]
  • Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd spoke out against parent company Badoo in the wake of allegations made by more than a dozen employees that it promoted a toxic work culture, especially for women. [5]
  • Badoo partners with Spice Girl Mel B and releases an 8 episode podcast called "The Truth Flirts" which looks at modern romance. [6]
  • A majority stake in MagicLab (Badoo's parent company) was sold to Blackstone. [7]
• Finances
  • Of all the dating apps in the App Store and Google Play, Badoo earned the 10th most revenue in quarter 1 of 2019. [1]

References

1. Tinder Dethrones Netflix As Top-Grossing Non-Game App In Q1 2019
2. Bumble’s New AI-Driven ‘Private Detector’ Feature Automatically Blurs Explicit Photos
3. Owner of Badoo and Bumble Launches New Parent Company Magic Lab
4. Badoo Employees Reveal Toxic Work Environment in 'Forbes' Expose
5. Bumble CEO Speaks Out Against Toxic Culture of Parent Company Badoo
6. Badoo Releases 'The Truth Flirts' Podcast With Spice Girl Mel B
7. Andrey Andreev Sells His Stake in Parent Company of Bumble and Badoo

2018

• General Information
  • A study revealed that the Badoo dating app ranked highly everywhere but the United States. [1]
  • Badoo has acquired the dating app Huggle which launched in 2016. [2]
  • According to LinkedIn, Badoo has 560 employees. This has increased by over half since 2016. [3]
  • Badoo releases a study of 5,000 users to find out what profile photos work best for men and women. [4]
  • Badoo is dropping swipe feature and introducing live video between users this summer. [5]
  • Since launch Badoo has had 388 million users join their dating service. [5]
  • Badoo is testing a new feature in Europe (with plans to add it to the U.S. soon) that aims to curb Ghosting by prompting users about unanwsered messages. [6]
  • Badoo in early 2015, got whitelisted for access to a new Facebook API that allows certain apps to see data about users’ Facebook friends. [7]

References

1. Study Reveals Which Dating Apps Are Most Popular (And Which Get Deleted First)
2. It’s A Match: Badoo Acquires British Dating App Huggle
3. Growth Industry Or Past Its Prime? A Two-Year Review Of Online Dating’s Hirings And Firings
4. New Badoo Survey Reveals Why We Swipe Right (And What Guarantees A Left)
5. Badoo Dropping Its Swiping Feature for Live Video
6. Badoo Launches New Feature to Curb Ghosting
7. Emails Indicate that Facebook Secretly Shared Personal Data with Dating Services and Others

2017

• General Information
  • Badoo launched a new search feature which uses facial recognition technology to match users with dates who look like their favorite celebrities. [1]
  • Lookalike celebrity feature which finds Badoo members who looks similar to a celebrity also allows you to upload a picture of your crush so you can find other similar looking people. [2]

References

1. SuperSwipes, Celebrity Look-Alikes, And More Of The Week’s Biggest Dating News
2. Badoo’s New Feature Lets You Date Celebrity Lookalikes

2016

• General Information
  • The Lulu dating app was acquired by Badoo. [1]
  • The founder of Lulu, Alexandra Chong has been named President of Badoo. [1]
  • Photo verification has been added to the new Badoo dating apps found on the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. New users are ask to submit a photo of themselves performing a specific gesture which then a moderator will compare with their other photos to confirm that the photo's are of the actual user. Over 5,000 moderators help in this process. [2]
  • Badoo Android reaches 100 million downloads. It is the first dating app to do so. [3]
  • The Badoo dating apps now allow members to upload 15 second videos. [4]
  • Badoo adds a new selfie safety feature which allows a woman to ask a man to send them a selfie after the man initiates a conversation. This is to help prevent catfishing (from people using other peoples photos). [5]
• Members
  • Badoo currently has 300 million users in 190 countries from around the world. [1]
  • Badoo has 60 million monthly active users who on average spends 1.8 hours on Badoo per day. [1]
  • Badoo has 400,000 signups every day which happens mostly in Europe and South America. [2]

References

1. Dating App Lulu Becomes Part of Online Dating Service Badoo
2. Badoo Launches Photo Verification for Safer Dating
3. Badoo Becomes First Dating App To Hit 100M Downloads On Android
4. Badoo Dating App Now Allows User Video Clips
5. Badoo Adds “Selfie Request” to Improve Safety for Female Daters

2014

• Finances
  • Badoo may have an IPO in the works. They have hired Goldman Sachs Group as an advisor. [1]
• Members
  • Badoo now has signed up over 200 million people worldwide. 25 million of the members are active on the dating site. [1]
  • Badoo has the most traffic of all the dating sites according to ComScore. [1]
  • Badoo is most popular in Europe and Latin America. [1]

References

1. How A Russian Is Taking Over The (Online Dating) World

2012

• General Information
  • Badoo has mobile dating apps for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry. [1]
• Finances
  • Baddo revenue is $150 million annually and claims to being profitable for the last 2 years. [1]
• Members
  • Badoo has 140 million members worldwide and is growing at 150 thousand members a day. They have 35 million active members every month. [1]
  • 12 percent of Badoo members have found a serious relationship, with 2 percent of those having eventually married. [1]

References

1. Badoo Now at $150 Million in Revenue Annually and is Profitable

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