Amid current market turmoil, Spark Networks (LOV)  appears to be an attractive investment at current price levels. LOV has dropped nearly 17% since the start of the year.  The company made a key acquisition of the popular Jewish mobile dating app JSwipe for $7M in 2015 and has undergone a critical turnaround that has seen a restructure and management shift.

Spark Networks initially pursued a patent infringement claim against then-competitor JSwipe in 2014. Several JSwipe users believed they were registering for JDate’s mobile app when they were registering for an unrelated company entirely. What started as a lawsuit ended in a key acquisition for Spark Networks.

While the online dating market is consistently growing and evolving, Spark Networks’ portfolio of dating websites has remained primarily desktop-based. The rapid rise of mobile dating apps (led by Tinder and Bumble) is a market segment Spark Networks continues to address to stay relevant in the online dating world. A key driver in the online dating revolution – mobile dating has become less stigmatized than its desktop counterpart. The downfall of desktop dating is upon us, as evidenced by the industry-wide shift toward a mobile-based interface.

JSwipe, a Tinder-like dating app for Jewish millennials, is becoming a household name within the Jewish community. JSwipe is the world’s No. 1 Jewish dating app, but has yet to monetize its growth. An introduction of a premium subscription service to JSwipe is likely as paid subscribers are Spark Networks’ sole source of revenue.

JSwipe the Jewish Linkedin?

Jewish Networks, comprised of JDate’s mostly age 35-plus users, accounted for $7M of total revenue for LOV in 2014.  JSwipe has amassed over 450,000 users (mostly aged 18-30) in two years. A successful user-to-subscriber conversion could significantly grow LOV’s Jewish Networks revenue. Spark Network has already seen a 1.3% sequential increase to 65,004 users from Q3 to Q4. Total users growth came in at 1.4% Q/Q increase.  The implementation of advertising within the JSwipe platform, like Tinder has done, is also a potential revenue stream for the company.