INTHEBLACK February 2022 - Magazine - Page 58
F E AT U R E
// D AT I N G A P P S
W
ithin months of starting her job
as a management associate at
Citibank in Singapore, Violet
Lim discovered something puzzling
about her colleagues. Most of them were
attractive, all of them seemed intelligent,
so why were so many of them single? With
Cupid tendencies and a mind for business,
Lim quit her job in 2004 to start a dating
company called Lunch Actually.
Fast-forward almost two decades, and
Lunch Actually now employs a team of 75
full-time associates (known as “Cupids”
and “Transformers”). The company has
facilitated 120,000 dates across Singapore,
Malaysia, Hong Kong and Jakarta, and
4500 of these have resulted in marriages
and romantic partnerships. It has launched
a dating app called LunchClick and recently
unveiled Viola.AI, the world’s first dating
marketplace driven by artificial intelligence
(AI) on blockchain.
“Our big, hairy, audacious goal is to
create one million happy marriages,” says
Lim, acknowledging that this also presents
58 ITB February 2022
a challenge to the business. “The more
effective we are, the faster our customers
are leaving us!” she says.
MODERN ROMANCE
What may sound like a flawed business
model has done little to limit the
proliferation of dating brands, promising
everything from lasting love to casual
meet-ups.
The industry was given a boost with the
launch of Tinder in 2012 – suddenly anyone
with a smartphone could find a date – and
the value of the global online dating market
is expected to reach US$3.592 billion
(A$4.7 billion) by the end of 2025.
The modern romance economy has
seen huge changes since 1995, when
Match.com became the first major dating
site to register a domain. Today, it is part of
the dating behemoth Match Group, which
owns brands like Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid
and Plenty of Fish. About 60 per cent of
relationships that start on a dating site or
app begin on a Match Group brand.
Dating companies monetise their offering
in various ways. Membership subscription is
the longest-standing model. The payments
are typically recurring, and the model has
a higher barrier to entry for use. Lunch
Actually’s model, for instance, is based
on customised membership packages.
Depending on a member’s needs and goals,
their package may include a certain number
of dates or relationship coaching sessions.
Bri Williams CPA, behavioural economist
and managing director of consultancy
People Patterns, says the subscription model
aims to filter the calibre of members.
“The promise is that only those who
are serious about love are going to put
their money down, so the sites use money
as a tangible indication of the quality of
members,” she says. “Also, if you’re paying
for the service, you’re likely to put more of
yourself into it, and your expectations are
going to be higher.”
The “freemium” model allows users to
sign up to dating sites or apps and use their
basic functionalities for free. Revenue is