Category: Reporters – Jon Russell

East Meet East Raises $4M

Posted on April 12, 2018

Eastmeeteast logo 2017TECH CRUNCH – Apr 12 – East Meet East, a New York-based matchmaking service focused on connecting Asian people in the U.S., raised a $4M Series A funding round. The money comes from existing backer 500 Startups and new investors Asahi Medialab Ventures, DG Lab Fund, Mobile Internet Capital, internet ad firm Septeni. The startup previously raised $1M in Nov 2016. The company is testing a service in the Philippines with a view to expanding across other Southeast Asian markets, which could potentially include Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Beyond the expansion, the company is also working to enable smarter matching.

by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the IDEA team

Paktor Moves Into Live-streaming Via Merger Deal

Posted on April 27, 2017

Paktor logo new jan 16TECH CRUNCH – Apr 26 – Dating app Paktor, 'The Tinder of Southeast Asia,' is moving into live-streaming and media content after it announced a merger deal with Taiwanese startup 17 Media. Paktor currently offers four dating apps – core service Paktor and acquired apps Down, Kickoff and Goodnight – while 17 Media's runs its 17 live-streaming app, photo social network Swag and video group chat service Lit. The new entity is expecting ~$100M in annual revenue and 50M users. The list of established companies moving into streaming is nearly endless. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Momo, and fast-growing Kuaishou among others.

by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch

Update: M17 has raised an undisclosed amount in investment from Korean VC firm KTB Network as part of a larger round, which is due to close in a few weeks.

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Paktor Lands $7.4M To Go Beyond Dating And Into Friendships

Posted on July 14, 2015

Paktor logoTECH CRUNCH – July 14 – Paktor, a service focused on Southeast Asia, has closed $7.4M Series B round that will go towards expanding its userbase and developing beyond dating to social discovery. Paktor raised $3M last Nov. Its registered userbase rose from 1.5M in Nov to ~5M today. Southeast Asia and Taiwan are their biggest markets. Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, is on track to overtake Taiwan. Now, Paktor is focused on making its mark in other parts of Asia, particularly Japan and Korea. While Paktor doesn’t have a premium membership, it has tested features such as gifting, search base on premium metrics, and contacting 'top' users on each country’s leaderboard. It also runs group chat rooms.

by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Now Tinder Is Being Used To ID Suspected Thieves

Posted on December 29, 2014

Tinder thieversTECH CRUNCH – Dec 23 – Stories of thieves being caught by Facebook or Twitter are nothing new. But David Petersen, co-founder of San Francisco-based startup Buildzoom, used Tinder to ID the person he claimed is responsible for stealing $30K worth of computers and gadgets from his company. He opened a Tinder account, uploaded the suspected thief’s CCTV photo alongside the words “I rob offices in SF, $5K reward for identifying me.” He received an email with her name and a photo just two days later.

by Jon Russell
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

OKCupid Partners With Coinbase For Accepting Digital Currency

Posted on April 17, 2013

Okcupid bitcoinTHE NEXT WEB – Apr 16 – OKCupid is now accepting payments in the digital currency and is the newest addition to the companies to support Bitcoin — which includes Reddit, Mega, WordPress.com, Expensify and others. OKCupid has partnered with Y-Combinator-backed Coinbase, a platform for buying and selling the digital currency, to expand its payment options.

by Jon Russell
See full article at The Next Web

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