Singapore-based Paktor has raised a whooping $10 million in the recent series-B round of funding. The round was led by YJ Capital (Corporate Venture Capital of Yahoo Japan) and other new investors namely Global Grand Leisure, Golden Equator Capital and Sebrina Holdings Venture Capital with participation from existing investors Vertex Asia Fund, PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk. (MNC Media Group), Majuven, and Convergence Ventures.

Launched in 2013, the lifestyle and social dating platform plans to expand its user base to North Asia markets mainly Japan and Korea and up tick Indonesia’s sales and marketing efforts.

Joseph Phua, CEO and Co-Founder of Paktor, said in a statement,

This latest funding round will help further grow our leadership in the rapidly growing lifestyle and social dating space, and allow us to bring our brand to even more young professionals through new channels, O2O services and market launches. Our focus remains in Asian markets and this round also brings us one step closer to our mission of connecting singles in Asia through technology- enabled platforms.

Paktor is keen to accelerate its product development which will include improving its existing set of app features by adding localised offerings, such as in-app gifting and group chats. Also, it is formulating various strategies to meet rapidly increasing demand for its online-to-offline (O2O) services in seven existing markets — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea. With 15 million global users, Paktor has become the de facto dating app for Southeast Asians.

Paktor has evolved into a full-service, multi-asset lifestyle platform that delivers the needs of singles between 18- 35 years old looking to socialise. Currently, its full suite of services includes a mobile social dating app, web dating platform and O2O events such as premium one-to-one matchmaking, networking events, curated experiences for singles by partners, coaching workshops and personalised consulting services across all markets. With the expansion of its O2O services and aggressive mobile push, the group is expected to surpass 8- digit USD net revenue in 2016.

We see Paktor as a high-potential technology company that’s disrupting the social dating industry, Paktor is poised to further shake up the space as it expands its business into additional categories and new markets.

said Ryu Hirayama, CEO of YJ Capital.

Besides growing its user base, the Paktor team has also grown to 50 team members, up from 15 six months ago. According to the startup, the app creates 12 million monthly matches with 500 million monthly swipes.


 

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