The GDI & Social Discovery Podcast

At the beginning of March, Dating Group announced a brand new $50 million corporate VC fund to invest in some of the most promising startups. The online dating arm of Social Discovery Ventures currently operates around 15 platforms and is looking to expand its reach in the industry. Its popular subsidiaries include the flagship Dating.com, Dil Mil and the most recent investment S’More Bill Alena h...

UrSafe is a personal safety app that can give daters and their families peace of mind when they’re out meeting someone for the first time. It’s unique arsenal of features, such as fake phone calls, hands-free SOS alerts and live GPS trackers, can help people quickly leave a bad date or call for help if they feel threatened. The app was co-founded by Dr. Anthony Oyogoa, who saw the need for a produ...

Adam4Adam was first launched in 2003, making it one of the oldest LGBTQ dating services in the industry. It is also proud of its diversity, as company data shows more than half of the members are non-white. Because of this, Adam4Adam is helping to combat sexual racism, an issue which is prevalent within the LGBTQ dating community. Several gay dating apps joined together at the beginning of Pride M...

This week’s episode of The GDI Podcast features a conversation with Neil Davis, the Head of Dating at RealMe. As the sponsor of The GDI Podcast, RealMe is committed to helping the online dating industry become a safer and more trustworthy place. It was created to answer the need for consumer safety by addressing the growing issues of fraud, scams and abuse. The risks can be much worse than just lo...

The online dating space is becoming more and more saturated with every new product release and entrepreneurs need to be increasingly innovative in order to stand out. David Minns is an industry expert who specialises in exploiting untapped areas of the market to create and launch a wide variety of niche apps. Some of his most recent releases include Butterfly for the transgender community and Joys...

At the end of June, HubStars announced that Dig would be its first new partner as a result of the ‘Million Dollar Dating Project’. The leading SaaS company will assist the ‘Dating App for Dog People’ take its already popular product to the next level. Dig has launched in a large number of cities across the US, and will use the extra help to introduce new community features, expand internationally...

Meet the Co-founder of Thursday, the Dating App That Works Once a Week Honeypot was a dating app that went viral in London last summer, following a thrifty guerilla marketing campaign which gained millions of organic social shares. However, over the past few months the team behind the project have been working on a major rebrand, which includes the unique strategy of making the product unusable fo...

This week’s episode features an interview with Stuart Murgatroyd, the founder of a brand new white label dating service. appMi works with a wide range of celebrities, reality television stars and social media influencers to help them launch dating apps for their followers. The company helps them along every step of the way, from software development to product design and marketing strategy. Influe...

Plenty Of Fish was the first Match Group subsidiary to launch its own live video feature. The update had been in the works for a number of months, but the release date was quickly brought forward to help singles who were trapped in their homes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Assisted by The Meet Group, POF added the one-to-many livestreaming platform midway through March. It also benefited from...

World Telemedia is one of the biggest annual conferences dedicated to mobile, billing and marketing. The event is due to take place in Marbella this October and is an ideal place for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn more about using mobile solutions to provide a quality dating product. The organisers also run an online and print magazine that keeps everyone up to date with all the latest news from...

Perry Street Software is the holding company for two of the industry’s leading gay dating offerings. It founded SCRUFF in 2010 and then became the largest LGBTQ-owned and operated technology company when it acquired Jack’d last year. The company prides itself on putting user safety and experience ahead of revenue. The majority of employees are LGBTQ so they know what is best for the community and...

Once Dating Group reacted quickly to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures by introducing a live video call feature. The update was created and launched on Once in just a couple of weeks, to allow users to engage in virtual dates without the need for any third party platforms. Like most of the offerings in the industry, Once has seen user activity increase by approximately one-third, as s...

This episode features a discussion with Jeff Tinsley, the founder and CEO of RealMe. As the new sponsor of The GDI Podcast, RealMe is committed to helping the online dating industry become a safer and more trustworthy place. It was created to answer the need for consumer safety by addressing the growing issues of fraud, scams and abuse. As we all know, the risks can be much worse than just losing...

White Label Dating is one of the biggest white label providers in Europe, helping affiliates, businesses and media companies effortlessly create their own online dating platforms. First launched in 2003, WLD has now helped more than 49,000 different partners generate over $400,000,000 from a variety of niche offerings. The company was quick to implement a ‘Work From Home’ policy in order to protec...

New Startup S’More is Encouraging Daters to Slow Down Adam Cohen Aslatei is an experienced member of the online dating industry, having previously worked with brands such as The Meet Group and Chappy. However, his latest venture has seen him launch his own startup dating app called S’More, which is designed to help people who might have been bogged down by the saturated market. It values personali...

The Meet Group is one of the biggest publicly-traded online dating companies in the industry, boasting a portfolio that includes MeetMe, Skout, Tagged and LOVOO. The Pennsylvania-based business added GROWLr, it’s first LGBTQ platform, to the family in 2019. At the beginning of April, it was also announced that the introduction of GROWLr’s live streaming feature was to be accelerated, due to the on...

Madeleine Mason Roantree is one of the UK’s leading psychologists that specialises in dating and relationships. She currently works as the Director of Relationship Psychology Services at the Vida Consultancy, an international matchmaking agency based in London and New York. Her responsibilities include assisting couples, at any stage of their relationship, to help them make sure they are as strong...

Yoti is one of the world’s leading digital identity companies, which securely stores people’s personal and legal information inside their smartphones. It works alongside a number of dating and social apps to eradicate fake profiles, by providing users with a simple way of verifying their identity. This should hopefully help services limit the number of catfishers and romance scammers on their plat...

Having the perfect domain name can ensure a company gets optimal visibility, but what happens when they get compromised? Safenames is dedicated to working closely with all of its clients to help them make their mark on the digital world by keeping brands safe and secure. Domain security is important for online dating services in particular, so users can easily keep returning to the website and fin...

BARE caused minor controversy when the news of its inception first hit mainstream media. The dating app that promotes full frontal nudity appears to be shallow and objective on the surface, but the deeper message is actually one of equality and empowerment. It’s tagline ‘Your Body, Your Rules’ encourages users to take control of their digital footprint and only expose what they want to. A revoluti...

As online dating becomes more and more popular it is beginning to have a detrimental impact on millennial singles. The average dater has upwards of three apps on their phone at any point, and with hundreds of matches on each platform, it is harder than ever for them to keep on top of their love lives. That’s where Relationship AI comes in. The independent platform is designed to take the stress ou...

Almost 60% of the UK’s population identifies as a follower of Christianity and for many singles, religion is the most important factor when it comes to looking for a romantic partner. Created in 1999, Christian Connection is one of the largest faith-based platforms in the world and has started countless relationships based on shared values. Founder Jackie Elton wanted to start the site so singles...

Africlick is a startup social app that is currently in beta testing. It is targeted at professional singles of African and Carribean descent, and aims to empower them to connect in a fun, safe and easy way. Founder Dayo Akinrinade created Africlick because she felt the men she was meeting on mainstream dating platforms weren’t seeing past the colour of her skin. She wanted an app that would help h...

Mark Brooks is one of the online dating industry’s leading experts with almost two decades of experience under his belt. He’s worked with companies like Plenty of Fish and Social Discovery Ventures in the past, and created his own consultancy business in 2005. Courtland Brooks provides top level support and strategic advice to dating brands of all sizes and helps them position themselves in the no...

With more than 450 million users, Badoo runs one of the world's biggest online dating communities. Based in London, the app is part of the newly-formed MagicLab umbrella which is also responsible for Bumble, Chappy and Lumen. Last year Badoo welcomed a brand new Chief Marketing Officer and unveiled an updated marketing message. The ‘Date Honestly’ campaign encourages users to be truthful and since...