|
BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
![]() |
|
Matchmaker looks for VC to expand
By Zhang Ran (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-30 07:54 Feng Wencheng stood out from the other entrepreneurs looking for venture capital funding at a recent party held by investment consulting firm EZ Capital. Most were involved in media, technology or telecom businesses. Feng's business, matchmaking, is more traditional.
"I started the business because I found a growing number of people around me had become single," said Feng. It's a trend Feng said will continue as the Chinese economy continues to develop. Happy Garden targets people 25 to 45 years old and has 10,000 members in its three downtown locations. A year's membership costs 2,200 yuan and includes singles' programs like eight-minute date nights as well as typical club facilities such as Internet cafes, a bar, exercise equipment and organized outdoor activities on weekends. "All the activities are just a medium for singles to get to know each other," said Feng. The company also has a website for its members to communicate online. "I know there are dozens of matchmaking and dating websites but the website model-only model has weaknesses," said Feng. People who show strong interest in each other online are often disappointed when they meet in person, he said. "It is better to let them get to know each other face-to-face as the first step since that is the generally the most effective way of communicating," he said. Feng started the clubs four years ago and has invested 5 to 6 million yuan so far but only starting making a profit on them last year. He plans to open seven clubs in Beijing this year and expand to Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2010, before branching out across the rest of China. Feng is currently talking with people from 10 venture capital firms, including Yu Regnuo, investment manager of GGV Capital and Zhou Jiaming, chief representative of Yangtze China Investment Ltd. The potential investors said that a face-to-face matchmaking club is more likely to make money than an online matchmaking site and the potential market of singles in China is large but that Happy Garden has still not managed to turn anything other than a small profit. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
|||||
南岸区| 昌都县| 永川市| 九龙县| 博白县| 于都县| 额济纳旗| 密云县| 庄浪县| 西峡县| 通化市| 旬邑县| 诏安县| 广河县| 济源市| 盐山县| 嘉鱼县| 博客| 阳谷县| 姜堰市| 金沙县| 辽宁省| 张家界市| 本溪| 广德县| 玉龙| 湖州市| 富源县| 乌海市| 汶上县| 汶川县| 石柱| 虹口区| 桂东县| 尼木县| 凌海市| 郯城县| 恩平市| 哈密市| 南汇区| 余江县|