Tinder's parent company Match Group acquires 51% stake in rival dating app Hinge

The online dating conglomerate Match Group has acquired Hinge, by purchasing a controlling stake of 51 percent. Hinge is a seven-year-old company that proudly positioned itself as a more welcoming version of the casual dating scene on Tinder, which is Match’s flagship app.On Hinge, users could only see potential matches who shared a mutual Facebook friend. Hinge turned out to be a fun and full-fledged dating site, because it got rid of all the swiping features, linked accounts to Instagram, and allowed users to upload multiple images of themselves.[caption id="attachment_4557841" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Artist's illustrations of dating experiences #100IndianTinderTales. Image: Individuality, Facebook[/caption]Hinge is the fifth-highest grossing dating iPhone app, according to the research firm App Annie, and Tinder has always been on the top.In the early days, Hinge did have the swiping feature, but users could sign up with Facebook and could connect with people with whom they had at least one mutual friend. Later in 2016, the app was redesigned with its anti-Tinder USP, “Goodbye swiping! On Hinge, every like is unique,”The chief executive of Match Group, Mandy Ginsberg, told The Verge that, “Hinge is highly relevant particularly among urban, educated millennial women looking for relationships.”With the acquisition of Hinge, Match will effectively turn into a dating app giant that now owns a total of 45 brands. These include Tinder, OkCupid, Match, and Plenty of Fish.Bumble, a notable dating app created by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, is not owned by Match.