IDATE – Jan 2 – LovePlanet was founded in 2005. It grew fast and was acquired by RBK in 2006. Maksim Khramov joined the company in 2007. LovePlanet is currently a part of Mediamir. Mediamir specializes in promotion of internet sites and other entertainment products.
Q: What is LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet is a freemium dating site.
Q: How many offices are there at LovePlanet?
A: LovePlanet has several offices. Our headquarters are in Moscow. The largest part is based in St. Petersburg, where LovePlanet was actually founded.
Q: How many employees are at LovePlanet?
A: 20 people in total.
Q: What markets LovePlanet serves?
A: We mainly target the Russian speaking audience. A significant portion of our users live in the Ukraine and Belorussia.
Q: How large do you see the Russian online dating market?
A: Mamba and LovePlanet annual revenue is ~ 1 Billion rubles ($31M).
Q: What is LovePlanet advertising % of revenues?
A: ~20% of our total revenue, and is constantly rising.
Q: How many members are at LovePlanet.ru?
A: We have ~17M registered users.
Q: Are you mobile?
A: At the moment ~5-10% of our audience use an HTML version adapted for a mobile screen. Together with html version, we are developing and building applications for iOS and Android.
Q: For the Russian speaking residents where are the market opportunities for growth?
A: We see growth in the other cities of Russia.
Q: Are you planning on entering the EU market?
A: We would be happy to work in other markets as well such as Europe or America. However, it's a challenge since business models differ greatly.
Q: Do you use Facebook connect for increasing conversions?
A: We see the tendency of Internet users migrating to social networks. We are working in this direction at the moment and recently we have developed the application for “Vkontakte.ru” network.
Q: How many payment systems does LovePlanet accept?
A: To pay for our services you can use practically any payment system working with Russian market: credit cards, “Qiwi” terminals. You can also pay with Sberbank or with a wire transfer. The major part of payments is done via SMS service now.
Watch the full interview at iDate
See all posts on LovePlanet
EON BUSINESSWIRE – Mar 1 – Teamo.ru, a Russian version of eHarmony, has attracted a new round of investment. The company’s investment partner is UMJ Russia Fund, the venture fund managed by United Managers Japan. Taking into account its original investment, the total investment amount into the company now stands at more than $2M. The new investment is planned to support a new marketing campaign to win more users and raise the brand awareness. The website has been live since December 2010.
