GAY STAR NEWS – Jun 4 – The China-based gay social networking app has announced that it has completed its latest rounds of investor financing and has a value of $300M with 27M registered users. 20% of those are now outside of China. It is one of the most-downloaded social networking apps in App Store. Blued is aiming for a stock market flotation within the next 1-2 years but which stock market it hopes to list on remains unknown.
Category: Blued
China Is The Biggest Gay Dating Market
ADVOCATE – Mar 18 – Earlier this year, the Beijing Kunlun Tech Company bought a majority stake in Grindr. Recently, China banned all TV programming depicting gay and lesbian couples. Yet the Chinese business was "excited" to invest $93M in the app. The world's most popular same-sex matchmaking app is Chinese Blued. Blued alone has ~15M users. "People in China are less open about homosexuality, but the beautiful thing about the smartphone is that it's a private device," said Blued investor David Chao.
by Daniel Reynolds
See full article at Advocate
Grindr’s Sale To Chinese To Signal A Boon For Gay Dating Apps?
SBS – Jan 20 – Despite homosexuality only being decriminalised as recently as 1997 and the scene still largely underground due to social stigma, Grindr is actually not even the most popular gay dating app in China. Blued claims more than three million daily users and is expected to soon become a publicly-listed company. Grindr claims to have a presence in 196 countries around the world and is used in countries where homosexuality is illegal or considered taboo. In the second half of the 2014-15 financial year, Grindr said its users in India grew by nearly 50% from the same period the year prior.
by Genevieve Dwyer
See full article at SBS
Gay Dating App Blued Plans IPO
GAYSTAR NEWS – Nov 12 – The CEO of Blued, the world's biggest gay dating app, says he would like to see his company make a stock market launch in the next five years. Based in China, Blued has 3M daily active users. By comparison, Grindr has 2M daily users. Blued soon expects to close its third fundraising round. The fundraising is expected to raise $50 to $100M.
by David Hudson
See full article at Gaystar News
Gay Dating Apps Battle For Supremacy In China
MASHABLE – July 21 – "Geng Le," the former policeman, founded one of China’s earliest gay sites. The site, danlan.org, was repeatedly shut down by Chinese government. Every time, he'd move his server to another city and launch again. But the times have changed. Geng's site is now free to cover gay news from around the world. Three years ago, he launched a gay-dating app called Blued, which he claims is the most widely used globally, with 15M users. After receiving $30M in funding last year, Blued launched an English version of the app in Feb and set up offices in the U.S., Thailand and Taiwan. In 2013, a new gay-dating app called Zank appeared. The app has ~8M users, and received $3.2M in private funding last year. Blued and Zank have done well locally but Grindr isn't giving up. Blocked by the Chinese government until June 2011, the app’s user numbers have been steadily climbing ever since.
by Justin Bergman
See full article at Mashable
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A Chinese Policeman Builds The World’s Top Gay Dating App – Blued
FORBES – May 25 – Ma Baoli, who goes by the alias Geng Le, had been a policeman in the northern Hebei province for almost 20 years. He was forced to quit the job in 2012, when people found out he had secretly moderated Danlan, a gay website, at night. China has no anti- discrimination law in place, meaning a lot of people, especially those working for government, choose to hide their sexual orientation. Ma Baoli started Blued, a dating app similar to Grindr. Now Blued boasts ~20M users, including ~6M abroad. Last year Ma raised $30M at a valuation of $300M. This year he will start talking to investors for a new round. International expansion is on his mind. The goal is listing on the NASDAQ within five years.
Blued Gay App Explores Overseas Market
ECNS – Feb 9 – Chinese gay dating app Blued unveiled its international version in the Netherlands. Blued founder and CEO Geng Le said the decision to launch in the Netherlands was because it was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage and is a "paradise" for homosexuals. Geng Le launched the app in 2011, and it now has 15M subscribers with 3M daily active users. The app recently pulled in $30M in third-round financing.
China’s Gay Hookup Apps Seen As Cash Cows
GLOBAL TIMES – Dec 8 – Blued, a gay hookup smartphone app, recently received $30M funding. Similar gay matchmaking apps have also attracted investment. Zank, an app similar to Blued, attracted a $3.25M investment this July. Zank has drawn ~5M users since its launch in 2013. Blued is the most popular gay app in China. The app has 10M users.
by Liang Chen
See full article at Global Times
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Chinese Gay Flirting App Blued Valued At $300M
WANT CHINA TIMES – Nov 17 – Chinese gay flirting app Blued is now valued at ~$300M despite having not made a single dollar of profit. Blued launched in 2012 by former police officer Geng Le. It has recently announced $30M funding from American VC firm DCM. 20% of the app's 15M accounts belong to overseas users. The company will soon launch new value-added services and cooperation deals with e-commerce and online gaming businesses.
The full article was originally published at Want China Times, but is no longer available.
Chinese Gay Dating App Blued Raises $30M In Funding
GAYSTARNEWS – Nov 3 – The app claims 15M users, 300K of whom are overseas and 20% of whom log on daily. In comparison, Grindr has 5M users. The company would use the investment to improve talent and the product.
by Darren Wee
The full article was originally published at GayStarNews, but is no longer available.
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.