Paktor winning in Southeast Asia, gets funding from Temasek subsidiary Vertex

Enough with the flirting. Vertex Venture, a venture capital subsidiary of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, has invested in Paktor, a Singapore-based dating app with over 1.5 million registered users.

The active user count and actual amount of the investment round weren’t disclosed, but Paktor says it has raised over US$5 million the the last 12 months. It also claims to be the largest player in Southeast Asia, at over 20 times larger than the next best app from the region. It’s unclear how Paktor’s usage in Southeast Asia compares to Tinder, the popular US-based app it’s inspired by.

1.5 million registered users isn’t exactly something to gloat about however, given that it’ll need to increase its userbase to monetize well. It’ll also need to figure out revenue streams that aren’t tied to user count. This latest funding round could solve two things: expand Paktor’s userbase to bolster in-app purchase revenues, and figure out more ways to sustain its business.

The money will be used to expand into new markets like Malaysia by next quarter. Its key markets have been Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan. It will also release a desktop version of its app, and will venture into the offline space with a new business arm called GaiGai, which will do one-to-one matchmaking and social dating events.

Vertex Venture is an investor in GrabTaxi, which is probably the region’s leading taxi app. It backed Reebonz, an online retailer for luxury fashion goods.

“People all over Asia are embracing the idea of meeting new people through digital means at a faster rate than most industry experts previously expected. With over 2 billion swipes and 40 million matches made through the Paktor in Southeast Asia, previous estimates about the industry may be undervaluing the region,” co-founder and CEO Joseph Phua says in a press release.

“What this essentially means is that we have only tapped a very small percentage of the market; this investment provides us with a strong financial base to further establish our dominance.”

Other modern dating apps of note from the region include Noonswoon and Love Out Loud. Noonswoon hasn’t disclosed its performance recently. Love Out Loud was recently acquired by offline matchmaking company Love Actually, though its actual usage stats pale in comparison to Paktor.

IUM, a popular mobile dating service from South Korea, launched a sister app called Hey targeted at English-speaking markets and particularly Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The app, however, has been pulled from the app stores.

Some Paktor numbers below: