The Meet Group, Inc. (formerly MeetMe) owns several dating app networking services including MeetMe, hi5, LOVOO, Growlr, Skout, and Tagged. The company has offices in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dresden, and Berlin.
History
Two siblings, Dave and Catherine Cook, created myYearbook during their Spring break of 2005. They persuaded their older brother Geoff, who had founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge from his Harvard dorm room, to invest in their project. At the launch of the site, Dave was a junior in high school and Catherine was a sophomore; the project was initially activated at Montgomery High School, in suburban New Jersey where they attended. The site was created entirely by workers in India.[1]
In 2006, myYearbook raised $4.1 million from U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. In 2008, it raised $13 million in a Series B round.[2]
In July 2011, myYearbook announced it had agreed to be acquired by Latino social networking site Quepasa.[3][4][5] In June 2012, the company formed from the combination of myYearbook and Quepasa was renamed MeetMe.[6]
In October 2016, MeetMe acquired Skout for $55 million.[7][8]
On April 3, 2017, the company acquired if(we) and rebranded to The Meet Group.[9]
In September 2017, Meet Group acquired German dating app Lovoo[10][11] for US$70 million.
In 2020, The Meet Group was acquired by ProSiebenSat.1 Media with a parent company, ParshipMeet Group, being formed to manage both The Meet Group and Parship.[12][13]
In 2022, Tumblr announced its livestreaming service Tumblr Live, based on The Meet Group's product Livebox.[14] In 2024, Tumblr announced that they would be discontinuing Tumblr Live as of January 24, with options for users to migrate to MeetMe.[15]
See also
- Myspace
- List of social networking services
External links
References
- Stefanie Olsen. The secrets of a teen's Internet success CNET, 16 August 2007^
- Jason Kincaid. Teen Social Network myYearbook Gets $13 Million TechCrunch, July 30, 2008^
- MyYearbook bought by Latino social network Quepasa. TechCrunch, 20 July 2011^
- Ryan Kim. Latino social network Quepasa swallows MyYearbook Reuters, July 20, 2011^
- RESHMA KIRPALANI. New Jersey Siblings Net $100 Million for myYearbook Sale ABC News, July 21, 2011^
- Anthony Ha. Quepasa, MyYearbook Complete Rebranding As MeetMe, Will Start Trading Today As MEET TechCrunch, June 5, 2012^
- MeetMe Announces Closing of Skout Acquisition Business Wire, October 4, 2016^
- Ken Yeung. MeetMe acquires mobile flirting app Skout for $55 million in cash and stock VentureBeat, June 27, 2016^
- MeetMe Announces Closing of if(we) Acquisition and Rebrands to The Meet Group Business Wire, April 3, 2017^
- Lovoo^
- Mike Butcher. German dating app Lovoo is acquired for $70M by The Meet Group TechCrunch, September 20, 2017^
- Stefan Nicola. ProSieben to Buy Dating Firm Meet Group in Tough TV Market Bloomberg News, March 5, 2020^
- The Meet Group Announces Closing of Acquisition by eharmony Parent Company Parship Group September 4, 2020^
- Ashley King. Tumblr Joins Livestreaming Band Wagon with New Service Digital Music News, 2022-12-21, retrieved 2023-09-30^
- Tumblr Live Is Shutting Down - Help Center Tumblr Help Center, retrieved 11 January 2024^