Category: Paktor

Dating Apps Adapt and Engage to Combat Isolation

Posted on March 28, 2020

Virtual dating1MARKETING MAGAZINE – Mar 27 – Singapore-based dating agency Paktor Group has seen a 28% increase in its installation rates in Singapore as compared to the previous year. There was also a 17% increase in app engagement during this period, with users logging into the app more frequently throughout the day. Meanwhile, Tinder has also seen an increase in its app engagement since mid-March. Its in-app conversation length saw an increase of 10% to 30% in Southeast Asia and Europe markets, as compared to February. Globally it has also seen daily messages increase by 10% to 15% in the United States, and an increase of up to 25% in daily conversation in Italy and Spain. On the other hand, Coffee Meets Bagel's founder and CEO, Dawoon Kang, said it saw an initial dip in its new user signups from mid to end February in Singapore, which recovered in March.

by Grace Ong
See full article at Marketing Magazine

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M17 Acquires Livestreaming Platform MeMe Live

Posted on November 4, 2019

Meme live iconTECH IN ASIA – Nov 4 – Taiwanese social media startup M17 Group has acquired MeMe Live, a livestreaming platform focused on markets in Asia Pacific. The company claims that the deal would bring its total market share of the livestreaming industry in developed Asia to 60%. The company also expects the acquisition to help it reach annual group revenues of $1B. Established in April 2017, M17 is the holding firm for Taiwanese livestreaming portal 17 Media, Singapore-based dating app Paktor Group, business-to-business live commerce service HandsUP, and artist agency Unicorn Entertainment. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

by Miguel Cordon
See full article at Tech In Asia

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

M17’s CEO Joseph Phua on Asia’s Diversifying Live Streaming Landscape

Posted on September 5, 2019

M17 joseph phuaKRASIA – Sep 4 – After a botched IPO, M17 is carving out its niche as a B2B live streaming platform. By revenue, BIGO is the biggest live streaming platform in Southeast Asia, followed by VivaVideo, also a China-owned app, and MLive, an Australian-owned app. The fourth is 17, owned by Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based M17 Group. M17 is linked to Southeast Asia because it's the result of a merger between Singaporean dating app Paktor and 17's predecessor.

Q: You started out building a dating app in Singapore. How did you end up as the CEO of a live streaming company based out of Taiwan?
Joseph Phua (JP): When I was single and started using Tinder I wanted to bring the app to Southeast Asia. That's when we built Paktor in 2013. I met my current business partner Jeffrey Huang, in 2014. We were competitors at that time, but in 2015 he stopped working on the dating app and started live streaming. At some point he was going through operational difficulties. One of the investors backed out after signing a binding agreement. I stepped in and we decided to merge 17 and Paktor, and I took over as CEO. M17 and Paktor still operate as standalone apps.

Q: What's the difference between BIGO and M17?
JP: We target mature markets. Our competitors are targeting developing markets with low ARPU so they need a big user base.

Q: You took a hit with the last minute cancellation of the IPO. What happened, and what are your new plans?
JP: We decided to withdraw and now we are looking towards building the business. We expect to make $300M in revenue this year, we're profitable. We have 50M registered users.

Q: Where's live streaming headed next?
JP: You cannot escape live streaming. Online dating was a taboo just a few years ago, now it's normal. Same with live streaming. It's already mainstream and all around us. We're already working with major media corporations.

by Nadine Freischlad
See full article at KrAsia

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Top Dating News – Momo+Tantan, iOS 13 Hiccups, and Paktor’s New Feature

Posted on August 27, 2019

OPW – Aug 27 – Here's the top dating news in ~2 minutes. Subscribe to Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) on Youtube (and turn on notifications) or to the podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor or Stitcher. 

S’pore Dating App Paktor Launches 15-Sec Voice Bios

Posted on August 23, 2019

Paktor-voicememoVULCAN POST – Aug 23 – With the newly launched 'Spoken' feature, users can record a 15-second voice memo to introduce themselves to people viewing their profile. Paktor says this is intended to enhance typical dating profiles by adding an auditory dimension, which can help people get to know each other better. About "80% of new Android users and 60% of new iOS users" have already recorded at least one voice memo.

by Alanna Tan
See full article at Vulcan Post

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Asian Internet Dating and Matchmaking Conferences

Posted on April 18, 2019

Marked calendarOPW – Apr 18 – Want to get your head around Asia? There's a couple conferences we'd like to put on your radar. But best book soon, as they're coming up fast. They're in Singapore at the amazing Marina Sands Hotel. I'm speaking at both of them.

The 1st is the GDI Singapore Dating Conference on May 13-14th, and is 250 GBP. Leaders from Paktor, Pairs, The Meet Group, Matrimony and Spark Networks will be speaking.

The 2nd is the Global Love Conference on May 15-16th, is $295, and will be more matchmaking focused. Leaders from Viola.ai / Lunch Actually, 2 Red Beans, Paktor, and the Matchmaking Institute will be speaking. (Here's a feel good $50 discount code 50OFFSG)

I hope to see you there. – Mark Brooks

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Time Out Singapore and Paktor Group Partner for a Dating Event

Posted on March 14, 2019

Gaigai eventMARKETING MAGAZINE – Mar 13 – Time Out Singapore has collaborated with dating agency Paktor Group's GaiGai to increase brand awareness of its product offering by hosting a dating event called "Find Me a Blind Date". Both Time Out Singapore and Paktor Group will also be presenting this event, while Winestone at Novotel Singapore is the exclusive venue and F&B partner.

by Farzanah Farveen
See full article at Marketing Magazine

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The Founding Story of Paktor

Posted on December 12, 2018

Paktor logo new jan 16ENTREPRENEUR – Dec 11 – Paktor, best-known as a Tinder rival in Asia, was launched in June 2013. Since then, the app has launched in 12 countries, including Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. It secured funding from investors like Yahoo Japan-affiliate YJ Capital and Singapore's Vertex Ventures. The founders of Paktor are primary school classmates – Joseph Phua and Ng Jing Shen. After completing his MBA from University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Joseph returned to Asia to start Paktor. The app, however, couldn't handle the high volume of users and crashed. He then reached out to Jing Shen, a University of Michigan graduate, for help, who at that time was working with Amazon as a software engineer and was a part of the team that re-architected one of the world’s first cloud computing services, S3. Today, Paktor has 15M users. In 2014, the founders launched its offline dating counterpart, GaiGai which specializes in matchmaking via its in-house matching system and personalization.

by Pooja Singh
See full article at Entrepreneur

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Paktor’s Parent Company Raises $25M

Posted on December 7, 2018

M17 Media logoBUSINESS TIMES – Dec 6 – M17 Entertainment, the parent company of dating and networking app Paktor, has raised $25M. The cash will go towards technical upgrades and new features for M17's live content-streaming platform, said the company. It also plans to invest in recruiting, training and promoting its content producers or "streamers", and in expanding its content and services. Terry Tsang, CEO of Hong Kong game developer Madhead, led M17 Entertainment's funding this time round. Other investors included Stonebridge Ventures and existing shareholders. M17 Entertainment was formed from the 2017 merger of Singapore mobile dating app Paktor and live-streaming platform 17 Media, founded by veteran Taiwanese rapper Jeffrey Huang Li-Tchen. Paktor co-founder Joseph Phua Jiexian became the group CEO of M17. It had planned an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2018, but trading was delayed and then shelved. M17 later said that it instead turn to private fundraising for $35M.

by Annabeth Leow
See full article at Business Times

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com

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