An inside look at Tantan’s matchmaking success

China’s top dating app Tantan announced on June this 21st that it has raised a $70 million worth in a Series D, summing up its total accumulated fund to $120 million, led by NASDAQ-listed online social entertainment firm as well as China’s pioneer of live streaming, YY Inc and Genesis Capital with participation from SAIF and Zhongwei Capital. Considering Tantan’s valuation of Series B and Series D, the valuation nearly increased 7 times in two years, according to LB Investment, an early backer of Tantan who invested in its Series B and achieved a partial exit in this Series D round.

Tantan works through the location base service mechanism and matches you with the person that has been to the same place you’ve been to. Tantan pushes the match based on user’s common tags: same hobbies and interests as well as visiting the same places. The default of Tantan is that it doesn’t show you the people that you have phone contacts. However, if you have a secret crush on someone around you, Tantan helps you to connect with that person.

For example, say you have a secret crush on your classmate. You can save that person’s phone number on your phone, then Tantan will send out a message to your lover, “Someone around you has a crush on you and wants to invite you to Tantan.” After joining Tantan, the photo of that person will be shown to you, and the same goes for that person. If both of you press “Like” rather than “Skip”, then you will be matched.

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