Feb 7 (Reuters) – The American dating app Bumble announced on Monday the acquisition of its French rival Fruitz, its first acquisition which should allow it to strengthen its presence in Europe and try to catch up with the parent company of Tinder and Meetic , Match Group.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Launched in 2017, Fruitz is a dating app used across Europe and hugely popular with young adults. It works on the “freemium” model, with free access but some paid features.
The app allows users to target their dating preferences through four fruit metaphors – cherries, grapes, watermelon and peaches.
The Fruitz takeover allows Bumble to take on rival Match Group, which has a head start for being the first to enter the online dating business.
Bumble currently offers its Badoo dating app in Western Europe, competing with sites like eHarmony and CharmDate.com.
“Badoo is one of the most downloaded dating apps in Western Europe, and Bumble has seen strong growth there as well,” Whitney Wolfe Herd, chief executive of Bumble, said in a statement.
For its part, Match announced at the beginning of the month plans to launch its Hinge dating site in certain European countries during the second quarter.
Despite improving health in many countries, dating apps are not expecting an immediate upturn in activity as the pandemic and associated health restrictions continue to put a damper on dating.
Match has thus revised downwards this month its sales forecasts for the whole of the year. (Report Yuvraj Malik and Tiyashi Datta in Bangalore, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)