FINANCIAL EXPRESS – Apr 16 – As weddings continue to get postponed owing to the outbreak of coronavirus and the need to maintain social distancing, Indian matrimonial platform Shaadi.com has launched a new initiative of conducting weddings from home through video conferencing. So far, Shaadi has already conducted one virtual wedding and is expected to conduct another one in the week ahead.
Category: All Worldwide (non UK/Euro/US)
Life Lessons From Paktor’s Co-founder
CNA LIFESTYLE – Apr 5 – As CEO of M17 Entertainment Group, the entrepreneur has led the firm to become the largest live streaming and social entertainment company in Asia. In 2012 Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel launched in the US and Joseph Phua chose to build his own platform that catered to the Asian community. After completing his MBA at University of Chicago in 2013, he returned to Singapore and launched Paktor with his primary school classmate, Ng Jing Shen. Paktor now has 20+ million users across eight Asian markets. In Nov 2019 they acquired live streaming platform MeMe Live. "We connect people in real-time and provide them with entertainment."
Shaadi.com Launches PetShaadi.com
Exclusive Dating Apps in South Korea
KOREA HERALD – Mar 23 – In order to join dating app Amanda, users need to receive an average score of three or higher out of a possible five points from 20 members of the app. GoldSpoon, which takes its name from the term used in Korea to refer to people from wealthy families, only allows rich men to join the app. They must own an imported car, having a house in the three most expensive districts in Seoul, earning ~70M won ($56K) or having a highly paying professional job. Women applicants must have a professional job or an appearance that passes the test by the members in the app. The acceptable age range is 20 to 40 for both men and women. Educational background is another factor restricting those who can join certain dating apps. SKY People and Diamatch requires applicants to the app to verify having attended or graduated prestigious universities or to be working for a major company.
by Lim Jang-won
See full article at Korea Herald
Grindr Lite Now in India
THE ASIAN AGE – Mar 11 – Grindr has launched its Lite version in several countries, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Currently, Grindr says, it has 4.5M daily active users in virtually every country in the world. Using less data and storage space, Grindr Lite provides the fundamental features of the heavier version of the popular app, such as profile and picture browsing and in-app messaging, while loading faster.
Matchmaking Services for Sexual Minorities Rising in Japan
ASAHI.COM – Mar 10 – Matchmaking company Resally started its service in 2016. The company had 160 members in 2016, but the number has now grown to about 500. It has helped 110 gay couples find love. It opened an Osaka branch in February. The membership continues to grow as its service has gained recognition while a growing number of local governments have introduced the same-sex partnership system. According to an online survey conducted by the Japan LGBT Research Institute in 2019 covering ~420K people in their 20s through 60s across the country, 10% of the people identify with being LGBT and sexual minorities.
How a Dating App Helped a Generation of Chinese Come Out of the Closet
NEW YORK TIMES – Mar 5 – Blued, one of the biggest gay dating apps in the world, has succeeded because it plays by the ever-shifting rules for L.G.B.T.Q. China – bringing together a minority community without activism. China is home to an LGBTQ population larger than all of France, ~70M people. But according to a United Nations estimate, less than 5% of gay Chinese choose to come out. Blued has a reported in-country user base of some 24M. Homosexuality was formally considered a mental illness in China until 2001. But in recent years, the government has neither expressed explicit support for the LGBTQ community nor sought to crush it. Whereas Russia has adopted a position "that LGBT rights is a Western conspiracy designed to weaken the nation," says Darius Longarino, a fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center. China's one-child policy further increased pressure on some gay Chinese to stay in the closet and enter heterosexual relationships, because parents pinned all their hopes on one child to provide genetic, legally recognized grandchildren to continue the family line. Blued app launched in 2012. The company, once kept alive by 50-to-500-yuan donations, received its first angel investment of $480K in 2013. It then raised a Series A round investment of $1.6M led by the VC firm Crystal Stream and in 2014 raised an additional $30M from another VC firm, DCM. In the last few years, having monopolized the gay-dating app market in China, Blued has expanded to Mexico, Brazil and India.
Lunch Actually – One Stop Dating Shop
BUSINESS WORLD – Mar 2 – Lunch Actually is a dating company that started in Singapore in 2004 and matches people through lunch dates. Sixteen years in the business and Lunch Actually is already in five markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Thailand – and has arranged ~120K first dates and 4K marriages that they know of. Before starting Lunch Actually, founder Violet Lim confessed that it wasn't her childhood dream to become a matchmaker. "I did a summer internship at a law firm, and I was handling a case between this divorced couple. I remember feeling really sad that they could not even manage to communicate with each other directly. I soon realized that as much as I loved law, it was not my calling," she said. She then started working at Citibank as a management associate and was surprised that many of her eligible and attractive colleagues were single. Ms. Lim decided to combine her passion for helping others "find their lifelong happiness" and creating a successful business. Thus, Lunch Actually was born. In Singapore, being a member of Lunch Actually starts at S$2,500.
App Makers Cash in as Southeast Asia Falls for Mobile Dating
Dating Apps in China Are Extremely Popular Due to Shy Culture
CGTN – Mar 1 – Wang Yu is CEO of one of China's largest dating apps – Tantan. Due to China having a shy culture, he says, his dating app has been hugely successful in providing an alternative channel through which people can meet. Traditionally in China it's the parents and grandparents of young singles who find their offspring suitable partners, especially if they are unmarried and approaching 30. He also reveals how the company has denied ~100M registration attempts due to the staff being unable to verify if the person creating the profile is who they claim to be. Watch the full video interview here.