Chinese app Blued claims it has now overtaken Grindr to become the largest gay social app, after closing its most recent investor funding.
Following its latest round of Series C and C+ funding, the app says its has been valued at $300m, overtaking Grindr which was said to be at $155m earlier this year.
Founded by gay entrepreneur Geng Lee in 2012, Blued was the first Chinese language, geo-dating app in its region, and now has over 27m registered users – 20% of which are based outside of China.
Out of a population of 1.3bn, it is estimated that a 1.7m people in China class themselves as being part of the LGBT community.
Geng Le told China Daily this week: “The gay business is a piece of virgin territory in China, and we hope to become a leader of this lucrative market.”
According to the Blued’s CEO, its latest funding will be used to speed up its international expansion, localise its product in international markets, further the app’s marketing and branding, and set up more offices overseas.
Following the vast opportunity for growth in the region, Grindr announced in January this year, that it had sold a 60% stake to Chinese gaming firm, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co for a sum of $93m.
However, Geng Le also aims to encourage the growth of Blued, saying: “We plan to speed up our international expansion, and localise our products overseas.
“We will promote the marketing and branding, and set up more offices overseas. We also plan to hire more competitive staff, and we will pay them a considerable salary.”
Last year, the app announced its plans of its launch in the Netherlands, its first international launch outside of China.
Blued is now available in nine languages and offers users the chance to look at other’s profile, photos and buzzfeed with the aim of providing an easy way for the gay community to network.
The app allows users to chat using photos, text and voice messages and filter results based on their individual preferences.
For more information about Blued, visit its official site.