Russian dating services are investing in promotion in “friendly” countries

Russian dating services are actively investing in promotion in “friendly” countries, since other markets are unstable due to geopolitical events. Thus, Twinby is entering the Kazakhstan market, Teamo is planning development in Armenia, Georgia and Mongolia, and Mamba is reducing its presence in Israel and Turkey, but is considering the possibilities of the Asian market. The audience of dating services, especially outside the CIS, is sensitive to political events, experts say.

Russian dating apps have begun to develop in the CIS and friendly countries, market participants interviewed by Kommersant told Kommersant. Thus, Twinby is entering Kazakhstan: investments in the development of the service, including its localization and operational activities, amounted to $1 million, a representative of the service told Kommersant. The company is also considering launching the application in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey: “The application in English is already being actively downloaded from the App Store in the listed regions.”

Twinby began work, investments amounted to about $2 million, they were provided by the creator of the service, Valery Klimov. Neuralab Tech Solutions, registered in Dubai, is indicated as the legal entity of the service. In October, the company raised another $1.5 million: former InDrive technical director Alexander Burtsev and Impact Capital became shareholders. At the end of December, the active monthly audience amounted to more than 900 thousand people; Twinby plans to launch monetization in the coming days, the company told Kommersant.

Thus, a Premium subscription to the application will cost from 499 to 1.8 thousand rubles.

“Mamba” announced back in April that it plans to invest $6.5 million in expansion into the markets of other countries, they were talking about investments in marketing, reported RBC. The company’s general director Andrei Bronetsky called the USA, Turkey, Germany, Israel and Kazakhstan attractive for developing the service.

But after the earthquake in Turkey (see “Kommersant” dated February 6) the company has cut budgets for the country, redirecting them to other markets, Mr. Bronetsky clarified to Kommersant. He added that in Israel “Mamba” was actively scaling throughout the spring and summer, but after the outbreak of war in October, the service suspended operations there: “This country has one of the highest average checks. We expect to return there in 2024, when the situation stabilizes.” Andrey Bronetsky added that the service is also considering launching in Asia, but does not plan to “spread out” over several countries, but will focus on the most promising one with a paying “core” of users. He did not specify which one exactly.

The Teamo service planned to invest up to $700 thousand to develop the application in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The service did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

The VKontakte network did not disclose expansion plans, but reported that the audience of the VK Dating service had grown to 26 million users. The company did not specify growth dynamics.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, one of the most popular foreign dating services, Tinder, announced plans to leave the Russian market; as of June 30, 2023, the application no longer operates in the Russian Federation. Bumble and Badoo have also suspended their operations in the country. As a result, back in 2022, Russian applications were able to increase their audience: Mamba reported an increase of 20%, Teamo – by 30%, VK Dating – by 73% (see “Kommersant” dated February 2). An obstacle to development, however, was the disabling of payments with Apple and Google cards.

According to Statista, the total revenue of all dating apps in Kazakhstan will reach $15.5 million in 2023, and more than $25 million by 2028.

At the same time, most of the revenue for the services was provided by those who moved from Russia, says a Kommersant source in the media market: “Since companies feel the demand, it is a logical step that they enter local markets.”

RBC reported that dating services, after last year’s mobilization in the Russian Federation, have seen an increase in activity in the countries most popular for the relocation of Russians.

Foreign markets, especially outside the CIS, are now “unstable due to geopolitical events,” clarifies one of Kommersant’s sources—for example, in Turkey and Israel, “contact occurs mainly between local residents and emigrants.”

Yulia Yurasova