Singapore’s Paktor gets $7.3M to become more than a dating app

Singaporean startup Paktor, creator of the dating app of the same name, announced today that it has secured S$10 million (US$7.35 million) in series B funding. Existing investor Vertex Venture Holdings joined the round, which also included Singaporean investment company Majuven and Indonesian venture capital firm Convergence Ventures.

Vertex, a subsidiary of Singaporean investment company Temasek Holdings, had previously invested US$3 million in Paktor during the startup’s series A round in November last year. Paktor has now raised a total of over US$12 million. At the time of its series A round, the startup claimed 1.5 million registered users. Now, after expansion to new markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, it boasts 5 million registered users and 12 million matches a month.  Active user figures were not disclosed.

Not just a dating app

Paktor launched in 2013, when co-founder and CEO Joseph Phua found himself single after a failed relationship. Since its inception, the app has been all about the romantic aspects of people meeting each other; its very name is the Hokkien expression for “going on a date”.

But the startup has been thinking bigger. “As the company and its vision progressed, as we learned more things, we realized that people meet other people at different parts of their lives,” Phua tells Tech in Asia. “They can be at work, out with friends and drinking, at activities where friends invite new friends. Thinking larger, you can meet new people during every aspect of your life, and what we want to try to do is fulfill and serve those aspects within one platform.”

See: Looking for love in Southeast Asia? These 6 dating apps can help you

Even though that might seem like a departure from what is perceived as the app’s primary function, Phua thinks it still serves the original vision of bringing people together. The scope is just wider. One might warn that Paktor is looking to graze on fields where monsters already roam, but Phua clarifies they’re looking to make their own footprint.

Traditional social tools like Facebook and Instagram dominate in their own areas, but none of them involve getting in touch with new people and forging new relationships – not necessarily romantic ones, Phua claims.

Recent features on Paktor such as group chats based on common interest cards provide social spaces for communication that don’t preclude eventual romance (much like meeting a new flame through a group of friends). But they do encourage other kinds of social connections, an area where Paktor feels it’s worth trying to establish a niche. The startup’s potential expansion beyond romance is reminiscent of Chinese dating app Momo’s similar transition, which has been working out pretty well.

A good match

Majuven and Convergence Ventures are a good fit for Paktor, Phua says, as the investors “believe in what we are trying to do, and they want to help us get there.”

Majuven’s managing partner, Ho Kee Lim, is also the non-executive chairman of postal services provider SingPost. His experience with traditional businesses, as well as his understanding of new paradigms has contributed to SingPost’s forward-looking moves. These qualities have been instrumental in providing guidance and focus to Paktor, Phua explains. Convergence, on the other hand, offers insight and expertise into Indonesia, an important market for Paktor.

See: Meet Convergence Accel, Indonesia’s newest venture capital firm

The startup has three main areas to tackle using this latest funding. It’s looking to hire “aggressively.” Paktor employed 15 people back when it closed its series A deal; now it has 50.

“That’s actually been the thing we’ve been trying to focus on for the last month and a half, recruiting talent from engineering to business development,” Phua says. “And that’s going to be the key for the next few months – we need a strong team for us to be able to execute.”

Expansion within Paktor’s current markets and beyond is also part of the plan. The company has a strong presence in “the top three cities” of each country it is active in,” according to Phua. Reaching smaller places in those countries is a key part of Paktor’s strategy to grow its user base, especially in countries like Indonesia, where the startup sees a huge potential market for the next six to 12 months.

Third wheels