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The OPW/iDate Weekly News Summary.

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:~ TOP ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH NEWS ~:


Chinese BlueCity Focused on Asia After IPO

REUTERS - July 9 - China's biggest gay dating app's owner BlueCity is focused on expanding in Asia, its founder said after it made its Nasdaq debut despite a U.S. securities regulator warning against investments in Chinese firms. BlueCity, which says its Blued app already has the largest market share in China, India, South Korea and Vietnam, raised $84.8M in an IPO which valued the Beijing-based company at $614M. Blued claims 49M registered users in 210 countries, and 6M monthly active users (MAUs), 49% of them outside China.


Tinder Testing Video Chat

TECH CRUNCH - July 7 - Tinder will begin to test video chat with some members in select worldwide markets, including in the U.S. The feature, which allows Tinder matches to go on "virtual" dates when both opt in, will first be available to users in Virginia, Illinois, Georgia and Colorado in the U.S., as well as in Brazil, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Peru and Chile. The new feature is simple to use. Once two people have matched and are chatting in the app, they can indicate they’re ready to move to a video session by tapping the new video icon. How exactly Tinder plans to properly moderate what appears to be a fantastic new solicitation platform remains less clear.


Grindr Cleared for Small-business Loan

REUTERS - July 7 - Grindr was approved for a $1M to $2M loan for small businesses suffering from the coronavirus outbreak. China's Beijing Kunlun Tech sold Grindr last month to an investor group called San Vicente Acquisition, after the U.S. government ordered the divestment amid concerns over the safety of personal data stored in the app. Grindr generated net profit of ~$31M in 2019, according to Kunlun's annual report.
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RealMe - Making dating apps safer
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UrSafe & The Meet Group Announce Partnership

PR NEWSWIRE - July 7 - MeetMe, Tagged, Skout, GROWLr and LOVOO users will receive a free 60-day subscription to UrSafe's premium safety Features. UrSafe is a hands-free, voice-activated personal safety app fully integrated with 911.


eharmony Sees 85% Increase in UK App Registrations During Covid-19 Lockdown

PRESS.AT - July 7 - eharmony has seen its app registration figures increase by 85% YOY in the UK during lockdown – in the period between January and June 2020. Driving this increase has been the success of Video Date, which enabled singles to keep connecting romantically during lockdown and beyond.


Muzmatch Celebrates 3 Million Members

MUZMATCH - July 7 - Dating app Muzmatch has just crossed the 3M member mark. Founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley banker, the app caters to Muslims who are looking to find a partner to marry.
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ProSiebenSat1 Given the "Go Ahead" to Acquire The Meet Group

HEISE.DE - July 6 - The Federal Cartel Office, Germany's national competition regulator, has no objection to the takeover of The Meet Group the ProSiebenSat1's subsidiary Nucom Group, which already owns Parship, Elite Partner and eHarmony.


OkCupid Now Lets All Users Share Their Pronouns

MASHABLE - June 6 - In 2018, OkCupid rolled out a feature for users who identified as any gender other than a man or woman to choose their pronouns. Now, the dating app is opening that feature up to every user regardless of their gender. They're doing this in the hopes that it will normalize listing pronouns in users' profile and create a safer environment for OkCupid's trans and nonbinary users.
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The OPW/iDate Dating Business Insider is first and the largest weekly news summary in the dating industry. Since 2004.
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