Chinese mobile dating app Tantan has raised a $32 million USD series C funding from a group of investors, including LB Investment, Vision Capital (ๅ ็่ตๆฌ), and DST Global. The latter is headed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, whose investment portfolio includes big name tech companies, including Didi Chuxing, Xiaomi, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter.
โAfter this round of funding, we plan to continue focusing on [user] pain points, improving daily usage, and consolidating our position in the social application industry,โ a PR spokesperson from Tantan told TechNode.
According to Tony Park, a Partner at LB Investment, some of the appโs future features include offering users the option to ask their matches out to lunch or to go for a walk. This will make it easier for matches to start a conversation and prevent matches from never talking to each other, he says.
Tantan claims it has 2.5 million active users, about 80% of which are part of Chinaโs post-90โs generation. According to Chinese media, the male-to-female ratio on Tantanโs app is 6:4.
Founded in 2014, the Chinese app is almost identical to Tinder, down to its UI which lets users swipe left and right for potential matches. In 2015, the Beijing-based company came under fire when multiple security risks in the app were revealed by Hong Kong-based entrepreneur, Larry Salibra. By reverse-engineering the Chinese app, Mr. Salibra discovered that sensitive user data, including passwords and telephone numbers, were not encrypted and vulnerable to hackers. In addition, Mr. Salibra found a list of censored sexual keywords in the app, such as โmeet for sex?โ and โnude photo.โ
Chinaโs online dating scene has grown rapidly over the past few years with multiple companies jumping into the industry, including Momo, a location-based social app that has recently zeroed in on livestreaming to boost user interactivity. Last year, online dating platforms Baihe Network Co. and Jiayuan.com joined forces when a subsidiary of Baihe acquired Jiayuan, a dating service designed for โbusy students and young professionals.โ The platform monetizes through a paid messaging system as well as user subscriptions, which include value-added services like virtual gifts and higher search rankings.
Itโs unclear how Tantan plans to monetize its app, which is currently free and offers no in-app purchases. According to a PR spokesperson from Tantan, the companyโs current focus is not on generating profit. โWeโll focus on that around the end of this year after weโve hit 7 to 10 million daily active users,โ he said. If Tantan continues to follow Tinderโs lead, we can probably expect a paid version of Tantan โ โTantan Plusโ โ in the near future.
Previously, Tantan raised a 13 million USD round of Series B funding from DCM, KPCB, and GX Capital (ๅ ไฟก่ตๆฌ), and LB Capital, all of which returned to fund Tantanโs latest round of funding. In January, 2015, Tantan raised a 5 million USD round of Series A funding.
Update (5/19/2016 12:39): This post was updated to include a comment from Tony Park, a Partner at LB Investment. His comment includes more specific information about Tantanโs planned app features.
Image credit: Tantan
