History
Badoo was founded by the Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev and launched in London in November 2006.
In January 2008, the Russian investor Finam Capital paid US$30 million for a 10% stake in Badoo. The funding will be used to build Badoo in Russia, where the market for social networking is beginning to grow. As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.
In September 2011, The Economist published an article that explained how Badoo had a shot at becoming "one of Europe’s leading internet firms" and that Badoo seems to have discovered a large new market. That month, Blendr, "powered by" Badoo, appeared in the iTunes app store.
As of November 2011 Badoo claimed to have over 130 million registered users of which 6 million are from the US. According to their website FAQ, Badoo claims to employ over 200 people internationally. In April 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook with an audit and potential removal if it didn't make its Facebook app less viral. According to Insidefacebook.com, during the week of January 11, Badoo was ranked 17th in growing Facebook apps.
The official Badoo USA launch was on March 23, 2012 with Nick Cannon introducing the service in the US.
In April 2012, the company entered into a marketing agreement with the site Hot or Not to display its members in the companies service.
On April 19, 2012, Badoo announced it had appointed long-time Google executive Benjamin Ling as Chief Operating Officer to push its mobile and web platforms and US growth.
In May 2012, the company announced it had exceeded 150 million registered users.
Badoo is the world’s fourth-largest social network with users spread across 180 countries. According to London Loves Business, it is growing by 125,000 new users a day. In both Spain and Brazil, roughly one in eight people who use the internet are Badoo members.
In October 2012, Badoo's COO Ben Ling left the company after a short tenure in the position.
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