Singapore-based Paktor has recruited Shang-Hsiu Koo as its Chief Financial Officer. The appointment comes at a time when the group is constantly leveling up its game to become a global company. The position of CFO was previously unfilled.
Koo boasts of over 10 years of executive experience with both public and private companies across the digital and financial sectors. He had worked as CFO at NASDAQ-listed Jiayuan.com, a Chinese online dating website, for six years. Inclined towards users looking to marry, the website claims to have over 150 million users on its platform.
Before that, he was an equity research analyst at Piper Jaffray, Oppenheimer & Co., and Pacific Epoch, covering China online games and media. Koo, in an official statement, says,
I am excited to join the largest social entertainment and dating company in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
He adds live streaming and dating in Southeast Asia and Taiwan is in its early stages but believes it is expected to become a multi-billion-dollar business in the next few years. He further states,
I look forward to helping the company invest and grow its operations in the region.
Incorporated in 2013, Paktor has extended its presence outside Singapore to cover the rest of Southeast Asia and Taiwan. It aims to strengthen its position as the leading player in the prevailing industry.
Joseph Phua, CEO of Paktor Group commenting on the appointment states,
The appointment of Shang-Hsiu is a big boost to our plans in becoming a dominant player in the global social entertainment and dating scene. With his previous experience as CFO at Jiayuan, I believe Paktor Group’s financial planning as well as financial management are in good hands. We are excited to have him on board to contribute in the growth of the company and guide us to the next stage.
The company had recently acquired a controlling stake in Taiwan live streaming company 17 Media to expand its business to social entertainment. It had also taken over a few dating apps, namely, American casual dating startup Down, voice-chat dating app Goodnight, and group dating app Kickoff.
The group had secured $32.5 million in an oversubscribed round in October. With a sum of about $53 million in its kitty, Paktor’s social entertainment and dating assets amounts to a total of 20 million users in Asia.
