Ted Lasso is quite the eligible bachelor, but he isn’t on Tinder, Bumble or Hinge. He and other characters on Apple TV+’s latest streaming sensation are on Bantr, a fictional dating app centered on playful conversation rather than traditional selfies and swipes.
And while you can’t buy a piece of Bantr, you can still bet on love the Lasso Way by exploring the growing list of fringe dating apps. The sector is unique in that consumers use several apps at a time. Since January 2019, App Annie data show U.S. users have spent a collective average of 7.4 million hours on dating apps a month on Android phones alone. It may seem daunting to compete against the likes of dating giants Match Group and Bumble , which collectively boast more than $50 billion in fully diluted market value, but plenty of businesses are trying.
