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Yanting Sim · · 10 min readThis Singapore startup is in the business of love. Here’s a look at its culture.
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Singaporean startup Paktor began in 2013 when its co-founder and CEO, Joseph Phua, found himself single at the end of an eight-year relationship. In less than four years, the startup has broken 20 million registered users, raised US$57.5 million in external funding, and recently became profitable.
Perhaps less known is its offline dating counterpart and sister company, GaiGai.
Established in March 2015, GaiGai is wholly owned by Paktor, with around 50,000 members in the countries it is active in, namely Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. (It goes by the names Paktor Premium in Taiwan and Datesmith in Malaysia.)
Paktor means dating in the Chinese dialect Hokkien, and gai gai refers to going for a leisurely walk in the same language—it’s not hard to see where the two companies meet.
GaiGai connects singles in two ways: through their match-up service, where their relationship managers screen members and provide personalized matching services based on client preferences, and through casual events like dinners, museum visits, and prawning.
They also have an add-on image consultancy service, Fleek, to offer image and dating courses to members.
The startup has 43 employees globally and is increasing its numbers rapidly. There have been upwards of 2,000 global matches made so far on the platform.
The GaiGai office
GaiGai shares an office with Paktor in Cecil Street. Besides housing its team, consultation services with its clients are also held in the office.
The reception area upon entering the GaiGai office. The wall and door behind the reception counter separate the consultation rooms from the rest of the office space for their clients’ privacy. Photo credit: Sim Yanting.
To the left of the reception table is this corridor along which are meeting rooms. Five consultation rooms and one board room line the corridor. Photo credit: Sim Yanting.
A typical consultation room fits two to three people. Here, GaiGai’s relationship managers meet with new members to understand their needs before creating a profile for them. Photo credit: Sim Yanting.
The GaiGai culture
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