Online Dating Industry Journal

LoveAccess.com Acquired by The Right One and Together

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online dating service LoveAccess.com has been acquired by matchmaking service The Right One and Together. Terms of the deal weren't released by either party.

LoveAccess.com first opened to the public in 2002 and was owned by LifeAccess, a company run out of Boston, MA that also owns ApartmentAccess.com and RoommateAccess.com.

The Right One and Together will make immediate improvements to LoveAccess.com, beginning with security. The company announced today that new members of LoveAccess.com will receive a phone call to confirm their identity before their membership is approved. VIP memberships will  also have background checks done so that other members will know that they've cleared that process.

"Our business is happiness, and this new service enables us to spread the joys of love and marriage to a much wider audience," says Paul A. Falzone, CEO of The Right One and Together.

The Right One and Together are tradition matchmaking services. The acquisition of LoveAccess.com will help the company effectively expand into the online dating world.

Joe's Comments
I called The Right One and Together for comment, but it was after hours with no answer and there was no answering machine to leave a message.

I give Falzone and his team mega kudos for some of the changes they are going to make. The phone call confirmation is extremely helpful (but not foolproof) in weeding out scammers (profile scammers and affiliate scammers).

Saongroup Acquiring Online Dating Services in Ireland

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online recruitment firm Saongroup is acquiring online dating services in Ireland. In February, Saongroup acquired Irish online dating service MaybeFriends.com. They have now acquired Singleinthecity.ie, which they are now redirecting to MaybeFriends.com.

Lemontonic Being Acquired for $15 Million in Shares

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Canadian online dating service Lemontonic is being acquired by Silverback Media for $15.2 million (Canadian) in company shares. Lemontonic is relatively new to the online dating scene, opening in February 2004 and bringing in only $7,815 in subscriber revenue in fourth quarter of 2004. Lemontonic had been part of Lemontonic, Inc. which recently has been trading for around 15 cents a share (TSX-V: LEM). Lemontonic is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. On Canada's Business Report, Lemontonic CEO Mark Pavan addressed what he felt made Lemontonic unique.

"First and foremost we're the only online dating site worldwide to be powered by the Microsoft Instant Messenger Technology Engine," says Pavan. "So we built a customized application on top of that engine which allows us to stream voice and video and actually have real time live video conferences with our members. And nobody else, frankly, can do that."

Lemontonic has striven to reach a 50/50 ratio between men and women and is slightly lower in women, but still close to 50%, according to Pavan. Lemontonic has been trying to stay away from what it calls "sleaze" by positioning itself as wholesome and safe. Toronto is the largest market for Lemontonic users.

Lemontonic is going through a reorganization period expected to conclude in August with net cash assets being approximately $850,000.