Tantan, a Chinese Tinder clone, raises $5M series A

In the wake of the Momo IPO, it seems investors are interested in the Chinese mobile dating market. The latest evidence of this: US$5M in series A funding to Tantan, a Chinese flirting/dating app, in a round led by Bertelsmann Asia Investments.

Readers familiar with the Western dating app Tinder will have no trouble understanding Tantan, because it’s basically a carbon copy: you set up a profile, and then use it to browse the photos of other people in your area. If you like the photo you see, swipe right and if they like you too you’ll have a chance to chat with them. If you don’t like what you see, swipe left and move on to the next person’s photo. Sound familiar?

Of course, any social network lives or dies based on its user numbers. It’s not clear just how many users Tantan has. The iOS version of the app has just three reviews on the iTunes store, one of which complains about a lack of users. But founders Pan Ying and Wang Yu claim that the app has a weekly active user rate of 80 percent and a weekly user retention rate of between 55 and 60 percent.

The company’s focus following this latest round of funding, according to Wang Yu, will be to increase the rate at which users are having real conversations with each other. He says the company is so committed to this that it will push for success even if that means letting users easily exchange WeChat information so they can continue their conversation there.

If you’d like to give Tantan a try for yourself, you can get it for free on both iOS and Android.

(Source: Sina Tech)