The OPW/iDate Weekly News Summary.

- Attend iDate May 28-29 in Beijing: http://www.internetdatingconference.com
- Video about Beijing: http://idate2015.com/agenda-beijing-2015.php
- Stay informed. http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com
- Mobile news app: http://idate2014.com/idate-industry-app.php

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:~ TOP ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH NEWS ITEMS AND INTERVIEW ~:

SparkStarter - Tony Kramer
http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... maker.html
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Double The Buyout Offer For Jiayuan.com, Suggest Heng Ren Investments

STREET INSIDER - Apr 8 - An offer to buy out shareholders of Jiayuan.com undervalues the company and should be raised by 119%, according to Heng Ren Investments LP. "The offer comes with Jiayuan.com’s stock depressed near a 52-week low after a difficult 2014. After Jiayuan.com's IPO four years ago at $11.00 per share, Vast Profit is offering to buy the company back at $5.37 per share - a 51% discount. In its appraisal value of Jiayuan.com, Heng Ren, determined the company’s stock is worth $11.74 per share. U.S.-based shareholders, who are being pushed to sell at a low price by Vast Profit, will reap no profit from this migration. Heng Ren believes current shareholders need to be fairly compensated by Vast Profit with a higher offer price.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... ments.html


Chinese Dating App Qingchifan Secures Series B Funding

TECHINASIA - Apr 7 - Qingchifan, a dating app for meeting up with strangers for dinner dates, has raised a series B round of funding led by Vertex Ventures, followed by Sequoia Capital. The exact amount was not disclosed, but is reported to be $20.5M. Qingchifan, which translates to "invite to eat," looks a lot like Momo, the location-based app for meeting strangers. Launched in February 2014, Quingchifan now reports 10M registered users, of whom 45% are female. The average user is 23-24 years old.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... nding.html

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Matrimony.com Buys Dating App Matchify

MEDIANAMA - Apr 7 - Matrimony.com has bought Bangalore based Matchify, a dating app that especially focuses on women with features like verified profiles, secure chat, profile visibility, abuse reporting and blocking. Matrimony.com was founded by Murugavel Janakiraman in 2008, and received venture funding worth $11.75 M from Yahoo! and Canaan Partners. Matrimony.com runs BharatMatrimony.com, a flagship matchmatching network. Earlier this year, BharatMatrimony’s competitor Shaadi.com had invested an undisclosed amount in dating app Thrill.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... chify.html


Happn: The Hottest New Dating App In London

STANDARD.CO.UK - Apr 10 - Happn launched in the UK last summer and claims 250K Londoners have used it already, with a further 140K outside the capital. Invented by three Frenchmen, it is taking on the might of Tinder, which has ~1.2M London users.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... ondon.html

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SparkStarter Hits 100,000 Downloads, Raises $250K

TWIN CITIES BUSINESS - Apr 8 - SparkStarter said its mobile app has 100K downloads and 10M profiles created. The app, which launched just before Valentine’s Day, offers features similar to Tinder but it’s the matchmaker feature that sets it apart: Users can set their friends up on dates by rating pairings of their connections on Facebook. The company raised $250,000 in funding recently, with another quarter of a million coming via open round.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... -250k.html


Online Dating’s Age Wars: Tinder Vs eHarmony

WASHINGTON POST - Apr 6 - Tinder and eHarmony are both dominant forces in USA. The companies have staggeringly different ideas of how American daters can find their match and how to best serve different generations. Analysts say the dating game is increasingly becoming a battle of the ages. Two-thirds of the singles and fling-seekers are 34+, IBISWorld data show. Pew Research surveys show 45-54-year-olds are just as likely to date online as 18-24 year olds. “Tinder is exciting, because they’ve caught the attention of young people. They put all their money on one variable: looks,” said eHarmony founder Neil Clark Warren. Many market-watchers have questioned the basic premise of eHarmony and other sites, which depend on long detailed profiles and dedicated algorithms. Eli J. Finkel, a Northwestern University psychology professor, is arguing that Tinder is actually closer than profile matchmaking to that old style of dating: catching someone’s eye and, knowing nothing about their background, feeling a sense of attraction from across the room.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... rmony.html

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HashSnap Is A Snapchat-Esque Dating App

SF WEEKLY - Apr 7 - Launched in Israel 8 months ago and based in San Francisco, HashSnap aims to allow its users to express themselves through pictures. It is a cross between Snapchat and Tinder. Every day there’s a new theme, such as "Me and My Ride" or “First Thing in the Morning”. Users take and upload pictures for each theme using the app’s camera, much like Snapchat. When a user sees a snap they like, they can check out the profile of the person who posted it and “like” them. If the person likes them back, they can have a conversation through the app.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... g-app.html


Ashley Madison Drops Korean Lawsuit

THE CANADIAN PRESS - Apr 8 - Ashley Madison has dropped its lawsuit against the government of South Korea after a court in that country overturned a decades-old law banning adultery. Ashley Madison launched in South Korea at the time when adultery was illegal, and was shut down shortly after. The website has now been restored.

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/new ... wsuit.html

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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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:~ UPCOMING INTERNET DATING & DATING INDUSTRY CONFERENCES ~:

May 28-29, 2015 : Beijing
http://www.internetdatingconference.com

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:~ TWITTER ~:

Online Personals Watch newsfeed: http://twitter.com/internet_dating
iDate events and updates: http://twitter.com/idateconference
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The business conference for the dating industry @ InternetDatingConference.com

Industry Message Boards @ mb.InternetDatingConference.com

Conference Organiser, Marc Lesnick, info@idate2014.com, 212-722-1744

Online Personals Watch, www.onlinepersonalswatch.com or opw1.com

Editor: Mark Brooks, mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com, 212-444-1636