Paktor Hires Ex-Jiayuan Executive As CFO

Paktor has poached a former Jiayuan executive to become its new CFO.

Southeast Asian dating leader Paktor Group has appointed Shang-Hsiu Koo to take the previously unfilled CFO position.

Koo served as the CFO of Jiayuan for six years, part of the team that took the company public in 2011.

Before this, Koo was an equity research analyst at Piper Jaffray, Oppenheimer & Co. and Pacific Epoch, covering online games and media in China.

Speaking about the appointment, Koo said: “I am excited to join the largest social entertainment and dating company in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

“Live streaming and dating in Southeast Asia and Taiwan is in its early stages but will become a multi-billion-dollar business in the next few years.”

Joseph Phua, CEO of Paktor Group and 17 Media said Shang-Hsiu Koo’s financial expertise was a “big boost” in helping the company become a dominant player in the global social entertainment and dating scene.

Phua said: “With his previous experience as CFO at Jiayuan, I believe Paktor Group’s financial planning as well as financial management are in good hands. We are excited to have him on board to contribute in the growth of the company and guide us to the next stage”.

Last month, Paktor Group announced a set of acquisitions, purchasing three companies that manage four social dating apps – Down, Sweet, Goodnight and Kickoff.

With the deal, the co-founder and CEO of US hookup app Down, Colin Hodge, joined Paktor’s management team and is now leading its new Paktor Labs division.

Hodge is joined at Paktor Labs by Groopify co-founder Pablo Viguera, who will run Growth and Product Strategy at Paktor’s incubator.

The February announcement came after news that Paktor had also secured a controlling stake in 17 Media, the company behind leading Asian live streaming platform 17 – part of Phua’s strategy of moving the group further into the “social entertainment” space.

Read more about the 17 acquisition here.