Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Video Matchmaking App Yidui Completes Series B Financing Led by Sky9 Capital

GLOBE NEWSWIRE - June 26 - Yidui, the video matchmaking platform in China, has completed a Series B round of financing led by Sky9 Capital and Xiaomi. Launched in 2018, the company has ~40M users and has raised $100M to date. Yidui provides an innovative dating experience, where the date is moderated by a third person - a "matchmaker" - who facilitates the conversation. The date is live-streamed and the audience can comment and live-chat with the matchmaker. Yidui's 10M matchmakers arrange 40M dates a month. Sky9 Capital is an early-stage focused venture capital firm investing in internet, enterprise and deep-tech sectors in China.

See full article at Globe Newswire

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Top Dating Apps in China During Coronavirus Pandemic

SCMP.COM - May 1 - The nine largest dating apps by China iOS app store ranking are Yidui, Tantan, Momo, Soul, Yimu, Zhenai, Hezi, Blued and Rela. ~622M people used dating apps in China last year, and the market is set to hit $290M in revenues by 2024, according to Statista.com.

• Yidui
  Video-based speed matchmaking app, targeting singles in lower-tier cities, it later introduced a professional matchmaker in the app and added a live-streaming feature to speed up matches
• Tantan
  China's Tinder clone, launched in June 2014, raised ~$120M. In 2018, the company was acquired by Momo
• Momo
  Launched in 2011, evolved from a simple location-based dating app to a general social platform that, in addition to its original features, also includes group chats, live-streaming, short-video, and casual games. The company went public on Nasdaq in Dec 2014.
• Soul
  Launched in 2015, it matches users based on a personality test, targeting young users. Soul has closed a Series C round of an undisclosed sum last year.
• Jimu
  Released in late 2016, the app melds features of dating apps with youth social networking functions, targeting urban residents who like art, fashion, and music. The company raised "tens of millions of yuan" in June last year from a Series B round led by Bluerun Ventures and Sequoia Capital. In July 2019, Hong Kong-listed Chinese live-streaming firm Inke bought Jimu for $85M.
• Zhenai
  Founded as early as 2005, is one of the oldest and well-known matchmaking websites in China, which also offers offline services. Zhenai has made several updates to its app in a bid to reach younger users as well, adding features including personal assessments, live-streaming, and a status-posting section.
• Hezi
  Voice-based social app Hezi was launched at the beginning of 2019, founded by two senior executives from Momo.
• Blued
  Launched in 2012 by the Chinese LGBTQ community website Danlan, Blued is the top gay dating app in China. The company has raised ~$130 M.
• Rela
  Founded in 2012, the first location-based dating app for lesbians in China.

See full article at SCMP

Chinese Video Dating App Yidui Secures $10M

DEAL STREET ASIA - Sep 9 - Video dating app Yidui has raised $10M in Series A+ round from XVC. The dating app is operated by Beijing Milian Technology & Trade. It has closed Series A round funding from BlueRun Ventures. Milian Technology, which launched the dating app in 2018, claims to have 10K+ active profiles currently. By the end of 2019, Milian Technology is targeting to cross 1B yuan ($142M) turnover mark.

See full article at Deal Street Asia

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