Paktor has been in business long enough to make waves in the dating industry of Southeast Asia. With a corpus of $57.5 million in its coffers, the startup operates in seven countries.
Following the purchase of a controlling stake in 17 Media, Paktor today announces the acquisition of three more dating companies which manage four social dating apps. Post the deals, Paktor intends to become the leading authority on online dating both in Asia and globally.
The company has taken over Down, Inc. (USA), Goodnight (Taiwan) and Kickoff (Brazil). Few members of these firms will be joining Paktor Group in the next phase of its global growth.
Together, they form the Paktor Labs division under Paktor Group. Colin Hodge, previously CEO and Co- Founder of the Down, Inc., will be leading Paktor Labs which is going to act as an accelerator for social apps with high potential.
Paktor aims to build the most comprehensive portfolio of online and offline dating services in Asia. It will be leveraging Paktor’s multiple distribution channels to bridge the various verticals of its extended dating app offerings. The Paktor app will continue to operate separately and as an independent entity.
Paktor Group CEO Joseph Phua, in a statement, said,
These 4 dating apps are natural complements to Paktor dating app and their stellar teams have demonstrated impressive organic growth. These transactions are aligned with Paktor Group’s growth strategy and reflect our commitment to provide singles with a broader variety of choices based on their dating preferences and needs.
He said the apps were chosen on the basis of where they were founded and their rising presence in Asia. They believe the apps will complement Paktor’s vision and will give them an opportunity to extract lessons from their founding.
One of the already acquired entity, Down, Inc. was founded by Colin Hodge in 2013. Launched as Bang With Friends, the company later rebranded as Down. It operates two apps one named Down, and another mainstream sister app, Sweet.
Both the acquired apps, DOWN and Sweet, will help in bringing 5 million organically-acquired users to Paktor Group, with profits and strong annual revenues. Speaking about heading the Paktor Labs, Hodge said,
I’m thrilled to be part of the Paktor Management team and to be founding the high-growth, fast-paced Paktor Labs team!
Taiwan-based Goodnight is a popular voice dating and social app in Taiwan, with over 500 thousand users. Incorporated in 2015, the app offers a unique way of meeting friends and romantic interests by focusing on voice instead of photos. Since Goodnight joined Paktor Labs, its revenue has risen by 500% and new user registrations have increased by 300%.
Co-founder of Goodnight, Howard Yang said,
We are very excited about joining Paktor Group. With tireless help from Paktor Labs, Goodnight is expanding very quickly. Goodnight has been successful in combining the Paktor Group’s strong product development skills and our creative marketing strategy.
The fourth in the list is Kickoff, Latin America’s leading dating app, which connects friends of friends looking for a meaningful relationship. Launched in São Paulo in December 2014, since then it has rapidly expanded across Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay.
Paktor also revealed part of the team of Groopify, a leading group dating app, will be joining Paktor Labs to help in accelerating the growth of Paktor labs. The app which had over 250,000 users with presence in across eight European and Latin American countries has been discontinued. Pablo Viguera, CEO and Co-Founder of Groopify, will be leading Growth and Product Strategy at Paktor Labs. Viguera in a statement says,
We are very pleased to be joining a leading and fast-growing emerging player in the online/mobile dating space.
Paktor Group, post these transactions, will be adding 7 million users to its existing pool of users, bringing the total number to 20 million users.
Paktor Group offers mobile, ancillary dating, and social entertainment. It is the first in Southeast Asia to provide a comprehensive suite of products across the dating vertical, focused on creating value for singles seeking to connect with others, and, in the process, developing the most diverse and largest network in its markets.
