Offline matchmaking service Lunch Actually buys mobile dating app LOLA
Lunch Actually, a matchmaking service that connects singles over lunch, has acquired mobile dating app Love Out Loud Asia (LOLA). The acquisition sum wasn’t disclosed.
LOLA was founded in October 2013 by Kenneth Lim, Wong Say Jon, and Chua Chun Kiat. It received seed funding from FatFish Medialab, made 350,000 matches, and paired over 10,000 singles across Southeast Asia. Its users come mainly from Singapore, Manila, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur.
Unlike Tinder and Paktor, which lets users make as many matches as possible, LOLA (like Thailand-based app Noonswoon) gives only one match a day. It’s targeted at “serious daters.” LOLA did not disclose user or growth figures, but nonetheless says it’s aiming to be the top dating app in Southeast Asia, says co-founder Kenneth Lim.
The LOLA team will launch a new version of app in early 2015 for both iOS and Android. It is a finalist at Tech in Asia’s Startup Asia Jakarta conference in 2013.
For Lunch Actually, this acquisition arms the company for the first time with a mobile-oriented service. Prior to that, Lunch Actually primarily conducts its business offline. It operated Eteract, a web-based dating service, but found that Southeast Asia isn’t receptive to the idea. It then launched eSynchrony, a “hybrid” platform where users have to answer a 100-question questionnaire before they are matched up with others.
Lunch Actually hires over 65 associates and recently expanded into their fourth market in Indonesia. The press release claims the company’s revenue, which is in the seven-digit US dollar range, has grown 30 to 50 percent a year since 2012. Co-founder and CEO Violet Lim says the firm is on track to grow its revenue 50 percent in 2014.
This post Offline matchmaking service Lunch Actually buys mobile dating app LOLA appeared first on Tech in Asia.
