Crowd Mobile, looking to expand into Asia, will acquire Kiss Hugs’ technology, intellectual property and user base
Image credit: Kiss Hugs
Hong Kong-based meetup app Kiss Hugs has been acquired by Crowd Mobile, an Australian listed company, for an undisclosed amount less than a year after the startup was founded.
Crowd Mobile, looking to expand into Asia, will acquire Kiss Hugs’ technology, intellectual property and user base. The startup had previously raised a US$25,000 seed round from Bigcolors in 2014, a Hong Kong-based early-stage seed fund.
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“The story behind Kiss Hugs was what actually sold me. Max [the Co-founder] was on Tinder, and on Tinder there’s only yes or no… He wanted to make an app in which you could either be a friend or more than a friend, but no rejection at all,” James Giancotti, CEO, Bigcolors told e27.
The two Kiss Hugs Co-founders are unavailable for comment due to legal reasons throughout the acquisition period.
“Over the last eight to nine months, they built the app, the business plan, and some IP around it all on the algorithm side… And then all the data analytics behind that. That’s what Crowd Mobile got excited about,” Giancotti added.
During a testing period around June 2014, they discovered that while men were hitting more ‘kisses’, women were hitting more ‘hugs’ to get to know the guys as friends first. Women ended up accounting for nearly 60 per cent of users on the platform.
In a statement, Crowd Mobile’s CEO Domenic Carosa called the acquisition strategically important for the company’s expansion into Asia and its ability to monetise key products.
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“We are very excited by the growth opportunity that the Asian market presents for Crowd Mobile. Kiss Hugs will be leveraged with Crowd Mobile’s crowdsourced, micro job, cloud-based technology,” Carosa said.
Meanwhile, Giancotti said that Hong Kong has proven to be a fantastic opportunity for investors and startups alike, despite the many naysayers just a few short years ago. Kiss Hugs represents Bigcolors’ third exit since launching the fund 18 months ago.
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The post Australia’s Crowd Mobile acquires Hong Kong meetup app Kiss Hugs appeared first on e27.