DEUTCHESTARTUPS.DE - eDarling's 2011 revenue was 36Million Eur and is on track to hit 50 Million Eur this year according eDarling's CEO Christian Vollmann. "eDarling is an important part of our future strategy", said Jeremy Verba, CEO of eHarmony. eHarmony acquired 30% of eDarling at the end of 2009. eDarling claims 12M registered users according to its infographic.

by Alexander Hüsing
See full article at DeutscheStartups.de

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PR NEWSWIRE - May 23 - Jiayuan.com, operator of the largest online dating platform in China, announced its Q1 '12 financial results. Net revenues for the first quarter 2012 were RMB 87.4M ($13.9M), a YOY increase of 27.8%. Operating income was $622K. The number of registered users was over 62M, with 6.7M new users acquired during the quarter. The number of average monthly paying users 1.2M, compared to 882,471 in 2011.

See full article at MarketWatch

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SMITHSONIAN.COM - May 24 - The April 1924 issue of Science and Invention magazine ran an article by Hugo Gernsback, which examined the different “scientific” ways to determine if a marriage will succeed or fail. There are four different tests to determine whether a marriage will work.

1. Physical Attraction Test - Electrodes are attached to each person’s wrist so that an “electrical sphygmograph” can record their pulse. If the pulse rate rises while embracing or kissing this is scientific evidence of physical attraction.
2. Sympathy Test - It involves one of the partners watching the other go through something mildly traumatic, like having blood drawn. If the partner's muscular contractions and sudden inhalations “due to excitement” are wild enough, then she/he is sufficiently sympathetic to the partner.
3. Body Odor Test - The couple is made to smell each other by one person being placed inside a capsule with a hose coming out the top. The hose is led to the nose of the other person and if the smells aren’t found too objectionable then the romantic pairing is deemed safe.
4. Nervous Disorder Test - It’s important that at least one partner can be calm under pressure.

See full article at Smithsonian.com

HUFFINGTON POST - May 24 - "Facebook has created a shift from online dating to social dating," said online dating expert Julie Spira. Dating sites such as theComplete.me and Circl.es are using social networks, rather than science, to help singles find romance. The creators of these sites say this will help keep users honest and accountable for their actions. "You can't put up a fake picture and misrepresent yourself on Facebook when you have 600 friends," said Circl.es founder Justin Krause. Yoke.me and theComplete.me, match singles based on personal information shared on Facebook. Yoke.me even invites friends to play matchmaker and set up singles they think would hit it off. "It just takes the stigma attached to online dating and melts it away when you realize you know someone in common," said Brian Bowman, CEO of theComplete.Me.

by Bianca Bosker
See full article at Huffington Post

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BUSINESS WEEK - May 23 - Billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, the owner of Match.com and other 50 businesses, delivered the best returns of any Internet media company worldwide, trumping Google and Baidu. One of IAC’s steadily expanding businesses is online dating. CEO Greg Blatt sees the U.S. as the biggest growth opportunity, while building abroad for longer-term returns as more consumers get online and have the means to make Internet payments. Match.com Q1 revenue rose by 56% and subscribers by 47%.

by Beth Jinks
See full article at Business Week

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REUTERS - May 22 - Match.com has created short dual-player games to help people express themselves better online. A game called Food Critic prompts members to answer food-related questions, while Romance Rip-Off is designed for two players to create a love story together. Match.com is also planning to launch local events. It plans to host 200 events per month in US. Brian Schechter, co-founder and co-CEO of HowABoutWe, said his company has been going offline since it started in 2010. Members post the type of dates they would like.

by Gianna Palmer
See full article at Reuters

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PR NEWSWIRE - May 22 - The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Awards will be presented at a special gala on June 19, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis.

See full article at MarketWatch

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OPW - May 23 - Christian K. is selling his two domains - Soulmates.com (asking price is $250K) and Partners.com ($300K). Contact Christian directly if you are interested.

SingleHumans.com is also for sale for $495. Please contact Sergei if you are interested in this domain.

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BELFAST TELEGRAPH - May 21- SeekingArrangement.com, a dating site which links wealthy men with young women, has been launched in the UK. Brandon Wade, the founder of seekingarrangment.com, says the US site has 80K UK members. The site claims a million members in America, with 10 women ("sugar babies") to each man. "40% of the sugar babies are students who need help with their tuition fees," Mr Wade said."The next largest group is single mothers." The "sugar daddies" are chiefly bankers, entrepreneurs and chief executives in their early 40s with an average income of £170K a year. They spend £2,862 a year on "sugar addiction" and are 13 years older than the women.

by Andrew Johnson
See full article at Belfast Telegraph

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THE MARKETER - May 20 - Match.com managing director Karl Gregory believes that it is vital to take into account cultural characteristics when expanding internationally. In the UK, humour is a major part of everyday interaction, the Japanese are interested in blood types, In Germany, the education is flagged up on dating sites, while Australians are attracted to fun up-beat images of dating rather than ones of settled happy couples. eHarmony recent £1m advertising campaign focused on the journey of an attractive single woman to find a partner.The UK advert looks at the journey, while American adverts look at the happiness of the success couple, and focuses on the end result.

See full article at The Marketer

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PR WEB - May 19 - MillionaireMatch.com has recently an electronic book through the Amazon Kindle to teach its members how to attract and maintain successful relationships. The e-book is called Finding and Keeping Your Millionaire Match: The Ultimate Guide to Long Term Love for High Income Earners.

See full article at Digital Journal

PRESS RELEASE - May 16 - All Dating Factory partners using its white label dating platform now have access to mobile-optimized versions of their websites. “~10% of all visitors access our partner sites through mobile,” said Moreno Aguiari, head of operations for Dating Factory’s US-based activities.

See full article at AVN

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GLOBAL PERSONALS - May 17 - UK Global Personals has been placed No.16 in the Media Momentum Top 50, a list recognising the most innovative and fastest growing companies in the European Digital Media Economy, organised by investment bank GP Bullhound.

See full article at Global Personals

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WEBWIRE - May 16 - Text2Pay will discuss mobile payments at the 9th Annual Mobile Dating Conference. The event takes place on June 20-22, 2012 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Michael Reiken, Director of Global Marketing & Acquisitions at Text2Pay, will present at iDate on the importance of third-party billing, freemium models and alternative payments for mobile dating sites.

See full article at Webwire

UNCOMMON WISDOM - May 15 - Each year, millions of Chinese are moving from poorer, rural interior to the large, eastern cities in China in search of jobs. Beijing and Shanghai are filled with people who have moved away from their families and friends. That is why millions of Chinese are turning to online dating. Men 30+ without a wife and without children are called “bare branches” and the social stigma against these unmarried men is strong. Back in 1980, the Chinese government launched its one-child policy. This policy has prevented 400M births, but it has also created a large gender imbalance. There are 122 baby boys born each year for every 100 girls. China currently has 180M bachelors, and 50% of them are estimated to be looking for love online. The online dating market in China is projected by iResearch to grow from US$75M to US$292 M by 2015. That is a 31% compound annual growth rate.

by Tony Sagami
See full article at Uncommon Wisdom

PR NEWSWIRE - May 15 - Snap revenue increased 54% YOY to $5.7M. Net loss for the quarter increased to $1.7M compared to a net loss of $0.9M in Q1 2011. The AreYouInterested.com iPhone application was downloaded ~750K times from the iPhone App Store. Snap saw increased mobile engagement to 15% of all unique logins during Mar '12 from 13% in Dec '11.

See full article at Daily Markets

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