Internet Dating Investments

Paktor's Parent Company Raises $25M

BUSINESS TIMES - Dec 6 - M17 Entertainment, the parent company of dating and networking app Paktor, has raised $25M. The cash will go towards technical upgrades and new features for M17's live content-streaming platform, said the company. It also plans to invest in recruiting, training and promoting its content producers or "streamers", and in expanding its content and services. Terry Tsang, CEO of Hong Kong game developer Madhead, led M17 Entertainment's funding this time round. Other investors included Stonebridge Ventures and existing shareholders. M17 Entertainment was formed from the 2017 merger of Singapore mobile dating app Paktor and live-streaming platform 17 Media, founded by veteran Taiwanese rapper Jeffrey Huang Li-Tchen. Paktor co-founder Joseph Phua Jiexian became the group CEO of M17. It had planned an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2018, but trading was delayed and then shelved. M17 later said that it instead turn to private fundraising for $35M.

by Annabeth Leow
See full article at Business Times

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Coaching Service Relationship Hero Raised $2M

BUSINESS INSIDER - Dec 3 - Relationship Hero is an on-demand coaching service that provides customers with dating and relationship advice. Users can call, text, or chat one of the company's 70-full time coaches at any time of day. The company raised a $2M seed round led by Foundation Capital, Village Global, and Shrug Capital.

by Nick Bastone
See full article at Business Insider

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Ponder's Pitch on Meet the Drapers

IDI - Dec 2 - Ponder is a friend-to-friend matchmaking app that uses blockchain to pay for referrals. The app is running a crowdfunding campaign. Ponder's founder & CEO Manshu Agarwal pitched his app on TV show Meet the Drapers.

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Japan's Rakuten Sells Matchmaking Unit O-net to Polaris Capital

DEAL STREET ASIA - Nov 30 - Japan's e-commerce giant Rakuten has offloaded its entire stake in O-net, one of the country's largest matchmaking services, to Japanese private equity firm Polaris Capital for an undisclosed amount. O-net was founded in 1980 as OMMG and acquired by the e-commerce giant in 2007. The sale involves 280K shares, or 100% interest, in O-net, with the acquisition expected to be completed by the end of this year. O-net, which currently employs ~500 people, is engaged in marriage matchmaking services, event planning and management, publishing, and other businesses related to marriage service. As of last year, it had 46K members.

by Mars Woo
See full article at Deal Street Asia

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

IPO Could Value Bumble At $1.1 Billion

BLOOMBERG - Nov 5 - An IPO in Bumble could value the app at as low as $1.1B, below the $1.5 billion figure it was reportedly seeking in January, according to calculations by Synovus Trust senior portfolio manager Dan Morgan. Andrey Andreev, majority holder of Bumble's parent company, is talking to banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. about a possible Nasdaq listing. Morgan applied the average multiple to an estimated 2019 revenue of $283M to get a $1.1B IPO valuation, though said it could increase on Bumble's plan to launch advertising next year.

by Shelly Hagan
See full article at Bloomberg

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Shareholders Increase Stake in Spark Networks

FAIRFIELD CURRENT - Nov 4 - First Manhattan Co. boosted its holdings in Spark Networks by 197.3% during the Q3. The firm owned 225,170 shares. First Manhattan owned 6.99% of Spark Networks worth $2.6M at the end of the most recent quarter. Separately, PEAK6 Investments increased its position in Spark Networks by 7.4% in the Q2. PEAK6 Investments now owns 478,119 shares valued at $5.1M.

by Darrell McKinsey
See full article at Fairfield Current

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Wake-up Call, eHarmony Sold For A Song

OPW - Oct 30 - ProSiebenSat.1 bought eHarmony for $85 million. A real deal. They'll run on a common platform in the future. eHarmony will do roughly $90m revenues, and $0 profit in 2018. Customer lifetime value for eHarmony is $200, whereas Parship is at $570. More info here. Brand recognition for eHarmony stands above Tinder and on par with the likes of Instagram and American Airlines.

See full article at the IDEA blog.

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

How Much Was eHarmony Sold For?

FINANCIAL TIMES - Oct 30 - ProSiebenSat.1, one of Germany's largest media groups, has agreed to buy US dating site eHarmony as part of its drive to create the world's biggest online matchmaker. ProSieben already owns stake in Parship Elite, a successful German dating business. ProSieben, which will merge eHarmony with Parship Elite did not disclose financial terms of the deal. But one person briefed on the acquisition said it valued eharmony at $85M - making it a surprisingly cheap date compared with rival Match, which has a market value of $13.7B. eHarmony, which raised ~$100M during just one fundraising round 15 years ago, has spent ~$1B on marketing in recent years, according to the person.

by Matthew Garrahan
See full article at Financial Times

Mark Brooks: eHarmony was sold for more than $85 million, that's for sure. Its brand value alone is worth double that. I'd put them at North of $300 million valuation.

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Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Media (Parship) Acquires eHarmony

REUTERS - Oct 29 - Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Media has bought eHarmony, in the first significant deal since it carved out a new e-commerce joint venture with General Atlantic. eHarmony expects 2.8 million new users this year, and complements ProSieben's own Parship dating franchise which is the market leader in Germany. Terms were not disclosed. Parship and sister brand Elite Partner, count 2 million registrations a year. eHarmony has brand awareness of nearly 90% and a very big user base that can be served better from a common platform. ProSieben is pushing to diversify away from its core commercial TV franchise, where ad revenues are flat and the sector is being disrupted by streaming platforms like Netflix. The Munich-based broadcaster bought eharmony via its newly created Nucom division, in which investor General Atlantic took a 24.9% stake in February. Nucom owns 94% of Parship. eharmony raised $113 million in two funding rounds. Most recently in 2004, Tuputele Ventures, TCV, Sequoia Capital and Fayez Sarofim & Co. eHarmony CEO Grant Langston will continue to run the business while representatives of Parship will join its board.

by Douglas Busvine & Joern Poltz
See full article at Reuters

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Bumble Owner Targets Nasdaq IPO To Become World's Top Matchmaker

BLOOMBERG - Oct 11 - The group behind Bumble is weighing an IPO in the U.S. as part of its plan to become the world's biggest dating business, according to founder Andrey Andreev. "We're now in very deep discussions with banks," including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Andreev said. Andreev, 44, is the majority shareholder of Bumble owner Rimberg International Corp., a holding company that also controls gay-dating app Chappy and London-based Badoo. Andreev, who founded Badoo in 2006, hopes the IPO will help his firm overtake Match Group. Andreev said revenue may be as much as $400M this year, which is less than a third of Match's $1.33B last year. Bumble would be the "umbrella brand" for any IPO, which won't happen before year-end, he said. Badoo invested $10M to help Wolfe Herd start Bumble, giving Andreev's group a stake of ~75%. Today, Bumble has 41M users, more than double from a year ago. "Bumble is going crazy," Andreev said. "Bumble is already in Germany, and it's growing at 500% a month there."

by Sophie Alexander & Benjamin Stupples
See full article at Bloomberg

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.