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Huggle Co-founders Talk Brand Mission and Badoo Acquisition

Huggle

Stina Sanders and Valerie Stark, Co-founders of Huggle, have interviewed with the London Evening Standard.

Stark tells the story of how a previous connection with Badoo Founder Andrey Andreev helped her start the company without a tech background.

The platform uses Badoo’s technology, so the pair are able to focus their efforts on design and marketing.

“We as the team are responsible for the app’s philosophy, development and how it’s growing, but the last word is Andrey’s,” says Stark.

The app was inspired, the founders say, by the difficulties Stark encountered moving to a new city.

She used Instagram’s geo-location feature to find people who visited the same places as her in London – this led to her friendship with Sanders and the launch of Huggle.

Nowadays, the team is driven by the desire to make more positive interactions on social media.

Connecting the online and offline world through a focus on real locations helps to keep the platform friendly, it is noted – there is always the possibility that a user might bump in to their match in real life.

User photo verification is said to be another aspect of Huggle that encourages friendly behaviour.

The recent Badoo acquisition will see Stark step away from the CEO role, with Sanders taking charge of the brand.

Stark was not able to reveal what her next project will be.

Read more here.

Scott Harvey

Scott is the Editor of Global Dating Insights. Raised in Dorset, he holds a BA from The University of Nottingham and an MSc from Lund University School of Economics and Management. Previously he has written about politics, economics and technology for various online publications.

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