17 Media will receive a ‘significant cash injection’ and Paktor CEO Joseph Phua will take over as CEO

The Singaporean dating platform, Paktor, announced today it acquired a controlling state in the Taiwanese video streaming platform 17 Media — a platform with 15 million users.

17 Media will receive a ‘significant cash injection’ to strengthen partnerships, enhance the livestreaming platform and improve on content.

Furthermore, Paktor’s CEO, Joseph Phua will take over the role of CEO while Jeffrey Huang, who started the company, will act as a Chairman and keep his status as a Founder.

This is the first major move the Singaporean startup has made after it raised a US$32.5 million fundraising round with the intention of ‘boosting social entertainment features’.

“This agreement marks a significant milestone for Paktor: 17 Media is a pioneer and leader in the social entertainment industry which has seen explosive growth recently, and yet is still relatively nascent,” said Phua in a statement.

Paktor is hoping its network in eight countries across Asia — and the cash — can be exactly what 17 Media needs to truly take off from 15 million users to much more. One step to achieve this goal is for 17 Media to expand into Paktor’s main markets (Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore).

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Across the strait, live streaming companies have taken off in China — so much so that the celebrities are making significant money through the platforms (much like YouTube celebrities have done for awhile now).

With this deal, 17 app gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base in Asia, a proven management team and a solid foundation to take it to the next level,” said Huang in a statement.

As for Huang, the acquisition is another milestone in what, on paper, is a very interesting life story. He was one-third of the rap group LA. Boyz — who in the early 1990s introduced hip hop music to Taiwanese culture.

In 2003 he founded Machi Entertainment, which would fall under a more traditional talent management and entertainment production house. In 2015, Huang moved into the digital space by founding 17 Media.

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Paktor was founded in 2013 and, according to the company, has 15 million users.

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