Mobile dating app Tinder simplifies an increasingly complicated hookup culture, appealing to online dating sceptics and millennials alike by minimising the chances of rejection.

Justin Macleod's dating app Hinge wants to be the anti-Tinder. Raising $12 million in December 2014 Hinge is set to expands its reach to new cities across the US in 2015. It's niche? It only connects people with mutual friends on Facebook.

With communities going mobile, Badoo, a booming 'social discovery' network with 150m users and $150m revenue, demonstrates the global opportunity in helping strangers connect through their phones.

Social media has found a fertile environment amongst highly sociable Brazilians. The nation has openly embraced these platforms and is fully engaged – people in Brazil typically spend 12 hours a month on Facebook, almost twice the global average. But what's driving this uptake?