Japan’s Eureka, developer of dating and couple apps, acquired by Match Group

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Since its launch in 2008, Tokyo-based startup Eureka has developed Pairs and Couples, mobile apps for dating and couples. The company announced today that it has been wholly acquired by US-Based The Match Group, a company of NASDAQ-listed IAC which runs globally online dating services such as Match, OKCupid, Tinder, HowAboutWe, Meetic, Twoo as well as other media sites including Ask, About.com, and Vimeo. Details of the acquisition price has not been disclosed.

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Pairs is a Facebook-based dating and marriage hunting app launched in 2012 and has acquired over 1.5 million users in Japan and 800,000 users in Taiwan to date. Couple is a memory-sharing and messaging app for couples, and has acquired over 2.2 million users. The company recently launched a media business targeting couples in their teens and 20s leveraging the user base of the Couple app, planning to launch a traditional Chinese version for Taiwanese users in June.

Taking advantage of the business experience of IAC with which has succeeded in many media businesses globally, Eureka wants to further develop its business around the Couples app not only in Japan but also in the Southeast Asian region. The two firms will maintain their brands and independent business operations with their personnel structures unchanged after the merger.

In this space, we’ve seen Korean startup VCNC seeing a good growth in Asia and boasting over 11 million downloads (as of January 2015) of its couple messaging app Between, which fundraised an estimated several millions of dollars from 500 Startups and Japanese VC firm Global Brain last year.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy