ASIA ONLINE – Apr 10 – A survey by local dating agency Lunch Actually shows that 62% of Singaporeans polled used an online dating service, up from 58% in 2010. The rise in online dating is not surprising, considering how much time people spend on social networks, says sociologist Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan. In a global poll of 10,976 users across 19 countries carried out by the BBC World Service in 2010, 30% of web users regard the Internet as a good place to find a romantic partner. Ms Lim's sites, two of innumerable online dating options available to Singaporeans, now have 80K (Eteract) and 15K (eSynchrony) users respectively. Eteract offers speed dating via IM, webcam, and online games. eSynchrony, on the other hand, matches people through a personality profile quiz.
by Benita Aw Yeong The full article was originally published at Asia Online, but is no longer available.
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA – June 24 - A regional dating survey of singles in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong has found that Singaporeans are the most open to the idea of online matchmaking and dating. 85% of 630 singles in Singapore polled were willing to try an online matchmaking agency. 41% have used online dating compared to 26% last year. Violet Lim, founding director, Lunch Actually, said: “In the past, when we did a similar survey online dating did not rank so high". The company has launched eSynchrony, a personality-based matchmaking platform that seeks to integrate online and "offline" dating. “The key difference to eSynchrony compared to other personality tests platforms out there is that we actually arrange the dates. This is a good compromise to dating between online and offline and encourage more singles to be pro-active to go out there and find love", said Violet.
The full article was originally published at Channel News Asia, but is no longer available.
SG ENTREPRENEURS — Feb 13 — Eteract allows singles to do activities together. For example, singles can do online video speed dating and join a group chat and has a social networking theme. You can add friends, join clubs, get updates on what your friends are doing. Online Speed Dating, Group Chat and Clubs are most popular. In Singapore, we are accredited by the government which means we do marital status checks, NRIC verifications to ensure that this person did not lie about his age and is a real person as well.
The full article was originally published at SG Entrepreneurs, but is no longer available.
OPW INTERVIEW — Nov 15 — I met Violet at the Matchmakers Conference in September. She’s runs Lunch Actually in Singapore. – Mark Brooks
Tell me about Lunch Actually. My husband and I started Lunch Actually in 2004. It’s a company that arranges one to one lunch dates for business professionals. Ever since we launched 2 other branches. One is in Malaysia and one in Hong Kong in additional to our office in Singapore.
How does it work? Client comes to our office for a face to face consultation and this is when we screen them. Once they decide to join, we start looking for suitable matches for them. Once a match is found we will arrange everything from booking a restaurant to reminding them about the date. After each date we require feedback which is very important because this is how we fine-tune what they’re looking for and then we set them up with their next match.
What do you charge? Our fee ranges from about 850 sing dollars 1650 sing dollars.
And you have another site, Interact right? Yes that’s right. Interact is a company that does something totally different. Eteract.com is an online portal where singles can go online and interact with each other. We have online speed dating, 3D chat rooms, so singles can dress up their avatar and send gifts to each other and that has worked very well for us.
I think the government has had some involvement with that? The government doesn’t have a stake in it but in the past years the government has been very interested in the dating industry. They have set up a funding for the dating industry. It’s called Partner Connection Fund. So new dating agencies or active dating agencies can tap onto this funding, outline what their plans are get 50,000 sing dollars max. Eteract has tapped onto this funding and received about 49,000 from the government to develop the site.
So what’s next? We are looking to start another branch once the one stabilizes in Hong Kong. Our next destination will be in Shanghai. Eteract is currently available in Singapore and once we’re done developing it (we’re still in the Beta) we are going to grow it out regionally in Asia and eventually worldwide.
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA — Nov 1 — Political relations between Singapore and Malaysia are much warmer than before. One Singapore businesswoman is hoping to cash in on this – by promoting a cross-border dating service. Ms Violet Lim, Founding Director of Lunch Actually, has some 800 clients in Singapore and has signed up 60 young Malaysians willing to go on cross-border dates. (US$260 for 13 lunch dates)
The full article was originally published at Channel News Asia, but is no longer available.
ASIA ONLINE – Apr 10 – A survey by local dating agency Lunch Actually shows that 62% of Singaporeans polled used an online dating service, up from 58% in 2010. The rise in online dating is not surprising, considering how much time people spend on social networks, says sociologist Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan. In a global poll of 10,976 users across 19 countries carried out by the BBC World Service in 2010, 30% of web users regard the Internet as a good place to find a romantic partner. Ms Lim's sites, two of innumerable online dating options available to Singaporeans, now have 80K (Eteract) and 15K (eSynchrony) users respectively. Eteract offers speed dating via IM, webcam, and online games. eSynchrony, on the other hand, matches people through a personality profile quiz.
