The parent firm of the famous dating app Tinder, Match Group, has announced that it would reduce investment in Web3-related research and advancement in light of the business’s weak Q2 results and the departure of Tinder’s current CEO.
Match Group CEO Bernard Kim stated in a letter to investors on Tuesday that the company will be reducing its investments in the metaverse and abandoning plans to launch Tinder Coins, an in-app digital currency.
The move also coincides with Renate Nyborg, the first female CEO, quitting her position. Renate had originally outlined ambitions to launch the “Tinderverse” after purchasing the video-AI and augmented reality business Hyperconnect in 2021.
Nyborg had envisioned Tinderverse
In order for Tinder customers to connect and communicate with each other in the future, Nyborg had envisioned Hyperconnect expanding its avatar-based “Single Town” experience.
While Kim did not specifically specify why Nyborg left, he did note that during the previous few quarters, the dating platform “has not been able to realize the monetization success that we generally provide.”
Kim stated in his letter that Match Group will keep an eye on the Metaverse but would rather wait till the “right time:”
Given uncertainty about the ultimate contours of the Metaverse and what will or won’t work. I’ve instructed the Hyperconnect team to iterate but not invest heavily in [the] Metaverse at this time.”
Tinder Coins, an in-app digital currency, had also been canceled, according to Kim, because of “mixed outcomes” from testing.
To guarantee that they can be a true engine for its next leg of development and help us uncover the platform’s latent power users, he continued, “We also aim to do more thinking on virtual products.”
“We’ll continue to carefully assess this market, and when the time is right and we have greater clarity on the entire potential and believe our service is well-positioned to succeed, we’ll think about going forward.”
