China’s top gay hook-up app attracts $30 million in funding from DCM

China’s most bootylicious gay hook-up app, Blued, has secured US$30 million in series B funding led by DCM, the startup has confirmed. This dwarfs the app’s series A round, which amounted to US$1.6 million in February.

The financials are not the only rocketing numbers. Blued, which is aimed at China’s gay men, now claims to have 15 million registered users. That’s up from three million towards the beginning of the year, according to local tech blog 36Kr. The startup’s founders cite reports that China has as many as 70 million gay men, despite a conservative culture that discourages both men and women from straying away from building up a traditional family.

Blued’s users are mostly concentrated around China’s largest cities – Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou – and an increasing proportion of them are China’s “post-90s” generation – i.e., those born on or after 1990. Nearly a quarter of that user base are monthly active users – that’s 3.5 million. That compares quite strongly against China’s top flirting app, Momo, which is aimed at straight men and women. Momo has 52 million active users at the last count from a total registered base of over 150 million.

Although Blued has added a groups feature – just as Momo did during its evolution into a broader social network for young urbanites – it has done nothing yet to truly monetize the app. That could come later as the startup explores a handful of ecommerce-related options.

Blued is up against hook-up apps such as Jackd, Zank, and Hornet.

See: Life beyond WeChat and Weibo: 15 niche social networks in China

(Source: 36Kr)