Dating app startup Paktor lands US$7.5mil in Series B round

• In: Majuven, Convergence Ventures and returning investor Vertex Venture
• Claims to have doubled its user base across Asia to over 5mil in 6mths

SINGAPORE-based social dating startup Paktor Pte Ltd said it has secured Series B funding of S$10 million (US$7.5 million) from Majuven, Convergence Ventures, and existing investor Vertex Venture Holdings (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings).
 
The S$10 million funding will be used to grow the brand in its existing markets of Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, as well as to expand into new markets in Asia, the company said in a statement.
 
“The funds raised will be invaluable in helping us maintain our aggressive growth. More importantly, we’ve forged partnerships with strong players with the close of this round,” said cofounder and chief executive officer Joseph Phua.
 
“With the experience and support of our investors, we are even more confident that we are en route to becoming one of the largest global social dating brands,” he declared.
 
Paktor claims to now have over five million registered users and five billion profiles reviewed in South-East Asia and Taiwan since its launch in 2013.
 
After closing its Series A round last November, for an undisclosed amount, it expanded into new markets including Indonesia, doubled its user base, and has shown over 100% growth on multiple metrics, including profile reviews and matched users, it claims.
 
The Paktor team has also grown to 50 team members, up from 15 during its Series A round six months ago.
 
With the fresh injection of funds, Paktor said it will continue to hire aggressively, with a focus on recruiting talented individuals to help grow its product and brand.
 
Part of the investment will also be channelled to product development, including improving Paktor’s existing set of app features by adding localised offerings, such as in-app gifting and group chats.
 
Localisation the key
 
Paktor said it has introduced a slew of new features in recent months that have helped it grow its user base (click infographic to enlarge).
 
These include a gifting mechanism that allows users to interact with other users and break the ice before conversations even begin.
 
Collectively, these features have proven successful at grabbing the attention of users and have increased the ease of starting conversations on the app, the company claimed.
 
For example, Paktor found that that Asians prefer to first meet fellow users in groups, versus a more intimate one-on-one session.
 
This led to the introduction of group chats, which are formed based on common interests (through interest cards) and enable users to comfortably connect with the like-minded, forming the foundation for genuine connections to develop, the company said in its statement.
 
In all, these new features have led to an increase in average profiles reviewed monthly from 300 million to 500 million, and increased the number of matches facilitated to 12 million a month, it claimed.
 
Users are also spending about 13 hours a month on the app, returning six times daily on average to match and chat with other users, it added.
 
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