The Meet Group, a US-based public company operating in the mobile meeting space, today announced it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire LOVOO, Germany’s leading social dating app, for $70 million in cash, inclusive of a $5 million contingent earn-out. The LOVOO acquisition is expected to expand The Meet Group’s global footprint, increase the company’s scale and profitability, and diversify its business model by adding expertise in subscription and in-app purchasing.
LOVOO was founded in 2011 and is a social and mobile technology company based in Dresden, Germany. The team of roughly 100 employees operates the #1 Dating App in German speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) in terms of app store downloads. Top 3 in Southern Europe (Italy, Spain and France). LOVOO does trailing twelve-month revenue of €27.2 million or $32.4 million based on current exchange rates. 48% of revenue comes from subscriptions, 24% from In-app Purchases and 28% from Ads.
Expected to represent The Meet Group’s largest single app in terms of traffic, LOVOO approximately reaches 5 million monthly active users (MAU) and 1.9 million daily active users (DAU). The app counts 47,000 new global registrations per day.
Geoff Cook, the CEO of The Meet Group stated: “We are very excited to expand our global footprint and add LOVOO to our portfolio of apps. LOVOO is our third strategic acquisition in the last 12 months and will represent our largest single app in terms of traffic. We are focused on accelerating growth across our portfolio of brands through innovating our livestreaming video product and sharing best practices in monetization and engagement across the portfolio.”
The Company expects that LOVOO will remain a separate brand and standalone mobile application following the closing of the acquisition, and that LOVOO’s headquarters will remain in Dresden, Germany. The company has extended offers to all of LOVOO’s 97 full time employees. LOVOO’s Co-Founder and CEO Benjamin Bak has agreed to assist with the transition for six months after closing. Effective upon closing, Florian Braunschweig, current COO and Co-Founder, has agreed to take over leadership of LOVOO as the new General Manager and Managing Director. The rest of the LOVOO management team is expected to remain in place.
David Clark, the Chief Financial Officer of The Meet Group added: “We expect the acquisition to close in October 2017, to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS and to generate additional free cash flow for The Meet Group in 2018 and beyond. This acquisition is expected to help further diversify our revenue streams with 48% of LOVOO’s revenue coming from subscriptions and 24% from in-app purchasing.”
