Xunta founder Sense Luo, an ex-Baidu engineer, is tired of gay dating sites and apps that have exaggerated interfaces with either “porn all over the place” or indiscriminate use of rainbow flags.
“I wanted to create a social network that was clean, crisp and fresh,” he says. Clearly many share his inclination. Since its soft launch last year, Xunta has nearly 60,000 users around mainland China.
Nobuaki Kitagawa asked how many of these users were “active”. Sense responded that all growth was organic, and driven by users rather than any marketing. 30% of the users were active as of April 2013.
Xunta also has a rich mobile app, and an “Offline Card” with a QR code you can give to someone of interest you meet at a public event, and connect with later. Each user gets to print upto 100 cards, and requesting more is a paid service.
Xunta’s user base is spreading across Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, but largely with the Chinese diaspora in those countries. Sense expects more will sign up once the English version, which is coming soon, is launched.
Xunta’s competitors include Hong Kong-based Hornet and mainland China’s Blued, though Sense says both are very niche in an already niche market.
Xunta’s revenue model allows for paid premium services, including perks similar to dating giant OKCupid’s ‘A-List.’
Jeffrey Paine asked what these premium features were. Sense responded that these included a better search algorithm, and the ability to send voice messages to other users.
This is a part of our coverage of Startup Asia Singapore 2013, our event running on April 4 and 5. For the rest of our Startup Arena pitches, see here. You can follow along on Twitter at @techinasia, and on our Facebook page.
Xunta gay is elegant, intelligent Chinese dating site