WorldFriends Networks Announces US$2 5 Million in Venture Capital Funding; Company to Provide Websites with Private Label Online Personals; Industry Veterans Spearhead Organization

Released on = March 2, 2007, 12:32 am

Press Release Author = WorldFriends Networks

Industry = Internet & Online

Press Release Summary = Shanghai-based Meta4 Group Ltd., which operates WorldFriends
Networks, the world's leading provider of private label multi-lingual online
personals announced US$2.5 million in venture capital funding from industry veterans
including the co-founders of leading Internet dating service Lavalife.com.

Press Release Body = WorldFriends Networks Announces US$2.5 Million in Venture
Capital Funding; Company to Provide Websites with Private Label Online Personals;
Industry Veterans Spearhead Organization
SHANGHAI, March 2, 2007 - Shanghai-based Meta4 Group Ltd., which operates
WorldFriends Networks, the world's leading provider of private label multi-lingual
online personals announced US$2.5 million in venture capital funding from industry
veterans including the co-founders of leading Internet dating service Lavalife.com.
WorldFriends Networks will use this capital infusion to greatly accelerate its rate
of growth in parallel with the rapidly expanding Internet socializing and
advertising markets, particularly in North Asia. WorldFriends Networks currently
serves over 200 website partners and 1,000,000 registered members.
Aside from expansion capital, the financing also brings valuable management
experience to WorldFriends Networks' leadership team. The investor group is led by
Nicholas Paine and Bruce Croxon, both pioneers of what ultimately became the
Internet dating industry, having co-founded Lavalife.com around 17 years ago.
Together with two other partners they invented telephone personals, and then grew
Lavalife.com from a start-up to a top tier online personals business with US$90
million of annual revenues.

Nicholas Paine has joined Meta4 Group as Executive Chairman, helping to optimize the
Company's strategies, organizational development, and financing. In addition to his
role at Lavalife, Nicholas Paine has been a seed investor and director of a number
of start-ups and rapid-growth early-stage businesses over the past 10 years such as
The Franchise Company that has grown from under US$100 million in revenues to almost
US$1 billion while he has been on their Board; Open Cola, a revolutionary
peer-to-peer search engine web service that pre-dated Napster; AIS, a medical
software company; and Airtrax, a revolutionary omni-directional forklift truck
technology company.
"The innovative unique distribution strategy and technology behind WorldFriends
Networks, combined with the management team's expertise and thought-leadership
proved to be an ideal investment opportunity in the fast-growing Japan and China
markets." said Nicholas Paine, co-founder of Lavalife.com.
"Coming from industry pioneers, this capital funding provides a strong endorsement
of our market opportunity, management team and business model,\" said Michael McNabb,
director of Meta4 Group. "This financing will solidify our position as the premiere
choice for website operators who wish to enhance visitor loyalty and the
profitability by adding a robust self-branded friend-finder channel to their sites.
WorldFriends Networks is proud to be delivering high quality friend-finder services
to leading website partners, and also helping many registered members to form
valuable new friendships and relationships."
About WorldFriends Networks
WorldFriends Networks is the world's premiere provider of private label
multi-lingual online personals. WorldFriends Networks enables each of its website
partners to have a best-of-breed online personals service using the partner's brand,
while enjoying the combined user base of the entire network. WorldFriends Networks
operates from offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

WorldFriends Networks' 200 partner sites include:
So-net www.so-net.ne.jp (Japan)
Eigotown www.eigotown.com (Japan)
Japan Zone www.japan-zone.com (Japan)
Japan Guide www.japan-guide.com (Japan) and
China Times www.chinatimes.com (Taiwan).

For more information please visit www.worldfriendsnetworks.com.

Web Site = http://www.worldfriendsnetworks.com

Contact Details = WorldFriends Networks
Suite 313, 98 Yanping Road,
Shanghai China 200042
Tel.: +86 21 5175 9800
simonpan@meta4-group.com

  • Printer Friendly Format
  • Back to previous page...
  • Back to home page...
  • Submit your press releases...
  •