Despite Debt & No Revenue, Philippine Dating App Scores $500K

FORBES - May 21 - Valenice Balace of Manila started an online dating service, Peekawoo, with $640 of her own money. People get to know each other through games and questions. The service has 200K users, 40% active, but has never made money. She has no monetization scheme. In June 2013 at an e-commerce conference, she met a venture capitalist who invested 30K in her business. 6 months later he poured in another $105K. Peekawoo later hit a wall of debt steep enough to make Balace feel depressed and consider shutting the service down. But another venture capital investor from San Francisco suddenly e-mailed this year and offered money without even a pitch. That sum was $500K to be spent over four years.