March 22, 2019

Spark Networks SE said it agreed to buy Zoosk Inc. for $255 million in cash and stock, creating the second largest mobile dating company in the world.

Berlin-based Spark will issue 12.98 million American Depository Shares valued at $150 million, based on the Spark Networks closing price of $11.53 a share on March 20th. Zoosk shareholders will get another $95 million in cash at closing and $10 million in deferred cash by December 2020.

The combined companies will have more than one million paying subscribers between them and the agreement is expected to add more than $50 million in adjusted EBITDA.

“Zoosk is one of the strongest dating apps in the North American market, which comprises half the $5 billion global online dating opportunity,” Jeronimo Folgueira, chief executive officer at Spark Networks SE, in the announcement.

He said expanding into North America has been a key focus of the company, as it has acquired numerous brands in the past 18 months. The firm now has SilverSingles, Christian Mingle, Jdate and JSwipe brands in its portfolio.

The existing Spark Networks team will continue to manage the company. Zoosk CEO Steven McArthur and Deepak Kamra, general partner at Caanan Partners, the largest shareholder at Zoosk, will join the Spark board of directors.

The agreement is scheduled to close by the third quarter 2019, dependent on shareholder approval, receipt of a permit for the ADS issuance and other conditions.

Topics: Financial News, Mobile Apps, Mobile Payments

Companies: Spark Networks

Related Content

Latest Content

March 22, 2019

Mobile gifting platform Bitmo has raised more than $3 million in seed funding from Everplus Capital, Longboard Capital Advisors and several family fund offices in Southern California, according to a press release.

The giving and mobile payment platform allows users to securely send virtual gift payments right from their mobile wallet and lets users split and exchange card value between stores.

The seed funding will be used to accelerate growth of the Bitmo consumer platform, expand the company's enterprise products for retailers, expand its offices in Carlsbad, California, and expand its sales, marketing, product, finance and engineering team.

Bitmo officials said the platform helps retailers, noting that billions of dollars of gift card value is lost every year by customers who receive gift cards, but never use them.

"Simply put, our decision to invest in Bitmo comes down to proven execution, large market opportunity and solid leadership," Jeff Haux, lead investor and board member at Bitmo, said in the release. "Bitmo is a scalable platform that simplifies an existing consumer behavior while showing measurable value to retailers."

The company said it expects to surpass 1 million users by the end of the year, and is growing at the rate of 28 percent month to month.

Topics: Financial News, Loyalty Programs, Mobile Payments, Online Purchasing, Technology Providers

Related Content

Latest Content