Remember Paktor, the mobile app which we featured a couple of times over here at Vulcan Post? The company has just broke the news to Vulcan Post that it has received a total of US$500,000 in investment, at a valuation of US$6.5 million, to expand its service to even more singles around the region.
According to the press release, Paktor’s social network has evolved to become one the largest mobile-based platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. The Paktor network has matched over 3 million people in the last two months and has expanded its footprint across 45 cities in Asia, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangalore and Jakarta.
In case you have not came across the dating app, Paktor allows you to simply flip through profiles of other users and, for each one, click either “yes” (I like what I see) or “skip” (show me the next profile). When the answer is “yes,” the other user is notified and has the opportunity to respond and chat with one another.
Paktor has a simple two-click registration/confirmation process that utilizes the user’s existing Facebook account, thus giving freedom to new users to immediately begin browsing for new friends.
Since its Singapore launch in July 2013, Paktor has experienced huge growth, fueled by Asia’s most tempestuous concern amongst singles: the fear of being snubbed. While this common fear seems to exist globally, the process of meeting new people is a much more arduous task here than it is compared to the Western world.
“We’ve achieved tremendous growth since the launch of our app last year, and are thrilled to have our investors backing us. We plan to use the funds to continue to build our team, accelerate our rapid growth and dominance in the social networking space for singles in SE Asia and Taiwan, and to build on our growing presence in other parts of North Asia,” said Mr Joseph Phua, Founder and Chief Executive, Paktor.
“In addition to matching singles around them, our cross-country matching feature with autotranslation have also allowed Paktor members to match with members from other countries. Asia is a big region, but a small world. I personally met my girlfriend using Paktor’s crosscountry
matching feature.” adds Mr. Phua.
Also read: [Impressive] Dating app Paktor hooks up 250,000 singles in just 2 weeks
“Paktor has brought disruptive innovation to the fast emerging social networking space for Asian singles, a market that is forecasted to be worth US$1 billion each year by 2015, and has clearly established its market leadership in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan. We are extremely excited and proud to be part of Paktor’s growth story and to help Paktor realize its vision as the next generation network for singles in Asia.” said Mr. William Ho, representative for a group of Hong Kong based angel investors.
Paktor has big plans up their sleeves
The company will also be making a major investment in technology, including significant commitment to personalization, enhanced app experience, as well as rolling out exciting new features. Paktor is also moving beyond just matching singles and is preparing to launch a new matching experience that encompasses a revolutionary interest based group matching capability.
Paktor has also been aggressively getting users onboard through various partnerships. While there are many other dating apps which we featured here on Vulcan Post, including Malaysia based Kehmistry, Meow which disguise itself as a mobile social network, or Surf-Face which lets you chat up with people in different channels, Paktor seems to be dominating the dating space for now.
Also read: Latest viral mobile social network app Meow is also a dating app in disguise
