Representatives from Match Group and Bumble are taking part in this week’s J.P. Morgan 49th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference.
The event is hosted virtually for the second year in a row and welcomes thousands of attendees, from a variety of industry leaders and emerging growth companies, to listen in on talks and conduct private investment meetings.
Shar Dubey, CEO of Match Group, took part in a fireside chat yesterday to talk about the company’s international expansion, Hinge’s strong growth in recent years and the pivot towards creating more social discovery products.
This included Match Group’s recent agreement to acquire the South Korean livestreaming giant Hyperconnect, in a deal worth more than $1.7 billion.
Dubey explained in the conversation: “Technology is at a point where we can enable people to meet and interact with others through richer experiences. This is what social discovery has been doing, particularly in parts of the world where people got comfortable with technology and meeting people online, but dating…is a bit of a developing concept in some ways.
“It is still about ultimately forming a one-to-one connection and having a conversation, but the intent is more platonic, it does not always have the necessary expectation of meeting in real life.”
She also added that users have the tendency to filter their searches by gender and geography, which shows they still have some intent for dating, even if that isn’t the main reason they join the platform in the first place.
A webcast of the full conversation is available to listen to for free on the Match Group ‘Investor Relations’ page.
An undisclosed spokesperson from Bumble’s management team will be hosting their own fireside chat today at 2:55pm ET. The conversation will also be available on the Bumble website from tomorrow.
Find out more here.