A 2019 survey conducted by Zhenai.com (珍爱网) showed that, among all respondents born in the 1990s, more than 85% of single people are not satisfied with their current marital status, which sheds light on the broader market space.
Image credit: Renate Vanaga/Unsplash
Yidui (伊对), a Chinese online dating platform, has recently completed its Series A+ round of financing worth tens of millions of dollars, led by XVC. Existing investor BlueRun Ventures (蓝驰创投) – who previously poured tens of millions of dollars into Yidui’s Series A in June 2019 – also took part in the fresh round.
Launched in 2018 and developed by Beijing Milian Tech (北京米联科技), Yidui is a video online dating app which concentrates on providing real-time Internet dating services.
Compared to those who live in top-tier cities, citizens of lower-tier cities have smaller social circles and fewer communication opportunities; they also tend to rely more on a traditional recommendation approach to facilitating dating arrangements. Based on these facts, Yidui designed its strategy, targeting lower-tier cities in particular.
The app employs a matchmaker service system, which helps the users with ice-breaking, warming up conversations and leading them into the right topics – to increase users’ experience and efficiencies in building relationships.
Unlike what some other online dating service providers offer, the app does not treat the final matching results as the only purpose of its matchmaking service; rather, it respects the value of creating more opportunities for its users as a goal in itself.
Besides, the real-time video call format that Yiduiis promoting helps to significantly reduce the possibility of awkward situations like ‘photo fraud’ and ‘talking to bots.’ Meanwhile, this approach – much more straightforward than the traditional texting method – enables users to get to know each other's characteristics and personalities in a relatively short time, which is particularly important for China's young generation nowadays, who tend to have relatively high opportunity costs.
According to the company, the video Internet dating platform has already achieved profitability. It is now managing more than 10,000 active matchmakers, arranging more than three million dates per month – and these figures are still witnessing rapid growth.
“China has 220 million single people, however, an efficient and interesting product to serve their needs for dating and building relationships is lacking,” said Hu Boyu (胡博予), partner of XVC. “Yidui made its innovations in advancing the online dating experience, which is highly appreciated by users and gradually contributes to high retention and engagement levels. The team has rich experience as well as deep understanding regarding products and users. We are optimistic about its future growth.”