(Reuters) - Dating app Tinder snagged thousands of paying users in the second quarter, helping its parent Match Group Inc (O:MTCH) beat Wall Street revenue targets and raise its yearly revenue forecast.
Match, which also plays cupid through other services including OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Match.com, has been investing heavily to take its cash cow Tinder to emerging markets and also promote its other platforms in the United States and other established markets.
Tinder - where users swipe left or right on their phones to signal interest or not in a person - signed up nearly 300,000 paying users in the three months ended June 30, Match said, bringing the app's total user base to an average 3.8 million.
Overall, the number of Match dating subscribers reached 7.7 million.
Match on Tuesday also unveiled "Tinder U," a version of Tinder that will be available only to students and launch next month.
Overall marketing efforts will intensify during the back-to-school period, Match said.
The Dallas-based company now expects full-year revenue of between $1.68 billion and $1.72 billion, higher than its previous forecast of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.
Match's stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months but its 23 percent rise this year has been stymied by Facebook's (O:FB) announcement that it would launch its own dating service.
Its second-quarter revenue jumped 36 percent to $421 million, topping financial analysts' average estimate of $412.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Second-quarter net profit attributable to Match shareholders was $132.5 million or 45 cents per share, compared with $51.4 million or 17 cents per share a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Match earned 41 cents per share.