Grindr pays £26m, a 26-year-old dating site closes
Nine stories this time, not the usual twelve to fourteen. We checked every lead against the date of the event itself, and many turned out to be old stories told again. What is left is recent: one closure, one settlement, two draft laws, three launches and deals, one study and one investor leaving.
A 26-year-old dating site in New Zealand is closing in November
Trade Me will shut down its dating site FindSomeone on November 30, 2026, and new members can no longer join. A paying local audience now needs a new place to meet, and the large company that owned the site chose not to serve it. Trade Me gave no user numbers and said the closure fits its wider business plans. The site ran for 26 years next to Trade Me’s main marketplace. Its goodbye email asked members to use up their paid message packs before the end. It is the first dating email in years that asked people to spend what they already paid, not to pay more.
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Co-Star is launching a dating app for people who read books
Co-Star, the astrology app, announced Readme on September 8: a dating app for people who read, or who want to date someone who reads. The app is built around one shared interest, not around photos. Its founder shared the news on X with few details, and Co-Star itself was bought by an AI company in August. An astrology app has decided that books are a better guide to love than the stars.
This week: Open 20 recent profiles and note the interests; one that appears five times needs its own search filter.
👉 Launch a dating site for one shared interest
Grindr will pay £26 million to settle a UK lawsuit over user data
Grindr agreed to pay £26 million, about $35 million, to settle a claim by around 12,000 UK users. Data a dating app shares with ad partners today can turn into a court bill years later. The users said the app passed their HIV status and other personal details to advertising companies before early 2020. The claim was filed in April 2024. Grindr admitted no wrongdoing and said in a US filing that it has changed its privacy practices since 2020.
Coffee Meets Bagel launched in Australia with ads about dating fatigue
Coffee Meets Bagel, an app for people who want a serious relationship, officially launched in Australia with a campaign called Let’s Get Serious. The brand is selling the opposite of what tired users complain about: endless matching and people who stop replying. The ads run in August and September on digital billboards, bus shelters, train stations and social media across Sydney. The ads are on bus shelters, which will still be there tomorrow, unlike most matches.
This week: Count last week’s new matches that never got a first message; that is the silence your users meet.
👉 Keep new matches talking with chat operators
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What makes older adults want to keep talking to a chatbot?
Feeling genuine matters more than looking human. That is the finding of a Singapore University of Technology and Design study of 140 adults aged 60 to 89 who used a chatbot built by the research team. Basic factors such as ease of use explained 26% of their wish to keep using it, and how real and close the conversation felt explained another 27%. For AI companion products, older users do not need a perfect copy of a person. They need replies that feel honest and personal.
👉 Build an AI companion your users trust
Australia’s draft law would make dating apps responsible for user safety
Australia’s government introduced a draft digital duty of care law this week, and it covers dating apps. Platforms would have to look for risks in their own design before harm happens, not only react to complaints. They would run regular risk checks and hand them to the eSafety Commissioner within 30 days if asked. In Canberra, a woman told the local paper she lost her Hinge account after an ex filed a false report. The bill is still a draft.
Source: Canberra Times (subscription) | Source: The Conversation via radioinfo
SURF became the official dating app of HYROX races in the UK, Ireland and Latin America
Dating app SURF expanded its partnership with HYROX, a fitness racing series, on September 1. People who train for the same race already share a schedule and a goal, so a first date starts with something in common. At races in Rio de Janeiro in November and London in December, SURF will run Blind First Dates, where two strangers race as a pair. SURF says earlier events drew more than 7,000 applications, and 9 in 10 couples were still in contact a week later.
This week: Email one running club or race organizer in your main city and propose a singles meetup.
👉 Built for matchmakers? See Matchmaking Edition
A Kentucky proposal would make dating sites flag repeat domestic violence offenders
A Kentucky lawmaker presented draft rules for a public registry of people convicted of domestic violence more than once. If passed, online dating platforms would also have to flag profiles created by people with such convictions. Only people with two or more convictions would appear in the public database, while first-time offenders would be visible to police only. The idea first appeared as House Bill 773 in February, and advocates for survivors asked for more research before it moves on. It is still a draft, not a law.
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Blackstone is leaving Bumble with about twice the money it invested
After almost seven years, private equity firm Blackstone is ending its investment in Bumble and still made about twice what it put in. An investor who takes money out early can win even when the company’s share price falls. In late 2020 Blackstone paid itself a $334 million dividend funded with Bumble’s debt. At the IPO a few months later it cut its stake from 83.6% to 53.2% and received nearly $2 billion. Business Insider reports an internal rate of return, the yearly return measure investors use, of 98%. Bumble’s share price never came back. So the breakup went well for one side, which is how most breakups go.
Source: Business Insider (subscription)
That’s the fortnight. See you in two weeks.
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