How Happn wants to become the leader in local dating

The dating app introduces Crushpoints, a new feature for adding favorite places to your profile.

Happn see much bigger. The French dating app, founded in 2014, aims to become “number one local dating worldwide”, announces Karima Ben Abdelmalek, its CEO. And why not, overtake Tinder or Mettic, leaders in the sector.

There is still a long way to go since the site of dating, present in nearly twenty territories, currently claims 135 million users, including 11 million in France. Far from the 500 million s of Tinder, present in 190 countries. But the nugget of French tech remains confident. “We have experienced steady growth since the inception of the app. And we have been profitable for four years”boasts the CEO.

“Dating apps hit the market ten years ago. Since then, new trends have taken hold.recalls Karima Ben Abdelmalek, who arrived at the helm of the company in July 2021. “So, to win in this hyper-competitive market, you have to constantly evolve and adapt to user needs.”

180° turn for the tricolor company. After targeting singles, who are more urban, the platform wishes to broaden its field of potential users. Happn now wants to seduce all Internet users who wish to meet and is today inaugurating a new version of the application. “The objective is to become a platform at the intersection between dating and social networking”, announces the CEO. The application becomes a three-in-one service. At the same time, a dating site, a social platform for chatting with new Internet users, and an interface for recommending good addresses, like Mapstr.

Two new features

For this, Happn continues to play the proximity card. A positioning at the origin of its success in 2014. Thanks to geolocation, the application allows its users to find people who correspond to them online and in real time, crossed in real life, in transport, on a place of work or outing.

But today, Happn goes further. Happn’s new interface offers two new features to promote dating “in the real world”. The first, “Ready to date”, helps users take the step of being invited to a meeting. A notification reaches them if the two interlocutors are ready to move from the virtual world to the real world. The second, “Crushpoints” offers users the possibility of adding a selection of their favorite places to their profile. From the neighborhood bar, to the crowded museum via more unusual parks: all of these landmarks recommended by Internet users are pinned on an interactive map. The goal? Discover new places and meet Internet users who share the same interests.

Through a partnership system, Happn “envisions to offer bars, parks or cultural places to users who wish to meet”, adds Karima Ben Abdelmalek. A way to support local businesses and strengthen the economic model of the application, based almost exclusively on a subscription system.

Crushpoints is being deployed in the 18 countries where the application is present. In France, the feature has been available since June 12. More than 3000 places can be added to the Internet users’ map.

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