BlueCity has published its financial results for the third quarter, revealing it has turned profitable for the first time.
Total revenue reached RMB297.6 million ($43.8 million) an increase of 47% compared to the same period last year. The company attributes the growth to its continued expansion of the live streaming services.
Blued, BlueCity’s leading LGBTQ social product, reached 6.3 million, with 494,000 paid subscribers. The premium members figure is a year-on-year increase of almost 44%.
Founder and CEO Baoli Ma explained in a statement: “In the third quarter we devoted resources to optimizing our service and product offering and identified opportunities to accelerate our global expansion.
“This includes: the promotion of marketing campaigns and introduction of an all-new ‘Community’ feature to the China version of the Blued app to foster a greater sense of community, and the launch of a new version of the LESDO app.”
He also added that major updates have been made to Blued in Latin America, introducing a more tailored experience for local users.
BlueCity last week announced that it had acquired Finka, a gay social network targeted at young men in China. The new asset boasts almost 3 million users and also has live streaming capabilities.
The company was floated on the Nasdaq exchange in July, a significant listing considering the trade tensions between China and the US.
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