Dating app raises money

French social app Yubo has raised $47.5 million in a Series C funding round. Investors include current stakeholders Idinvest Partners, Iris Capital, Alven, and Sweet Capital, with Gaia Capital Partners joining as a new investor.

Yubo expect to make $20 million in revenue this year, doubling the amount that was taken in 2019.

With a focus on young people under 25, the social platform has managed to attract 40 million users. A fraction of them hang out every day in live-streaming rooms, meet new people and spend money for more features.

Yubo operates on a similar premise to live streaming apps, where users have the ability to like, follow, and recommend other users who choose to ‘perform’.

It also borrows the swiping functionality from dating apps, as users can make friends by choosing to swipe right on certain profiles.

Users can live stream from their phone and chat with other users. They join rooms depending on what they’re looking for, such as local people, people talking about politics, people playing games, etc.

Co-Founder and CEO, Sacha Lazimi, told TechCrunch: “In 95% of rooms, there are only streamers. Rooms have between 5 and 10 people on average.

“We had 25 million registered users in December. Today, we have more than 40 million users. Most users are based in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and France. And engagement has been going up as well. The number of hours spent in live rooms is up 400% year-over-year.”

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