(PEHub) SparkLabs Global Ventures said Tuesday it invested in Dating LATAM, an online dating startup founded in Lima, Peru. Financial terms weren’t announced.
PRESS RELEASE
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com), a global seed-stage fund, announced their first investment in Latin America with Dating LATAM, an online dating startup founded in Lima, Peru. The startup’s MiMediaManzana.com site currently has over 300,000 registered users. It started originally in Peru and is now present in Mexico, Colombia, and Chile with a fully localized and customized solution for each country.
There are over 80 million single adults in the U.S. that generated over $2 billion in revenues during 2014 for the online dating industry. However, in Spanish speaking Latin America, there is an unaddressed market of over 104 million single adults that are not yet using the Internet to find potential partners.
“We love the Dating LATAM’s team, vision to dominate Latin America, and their analytical approach to building their company,” stated Net Jacobsson, Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Global Ventures.
SparkLabs Global Ventures added a new advisor to their seed-stage fund, Seong Ohm, who is SVP of Merchandise Business Services at Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. She has 25 years of experience in both the retail and supplier sectors, having previously spent 10 years with Walmart. Previously, Seong led the entertainment small business unit for Walmart and was awarded “Retailer of the Year” for her performance and leadership. She was also named one of the 15 top innovative women in business by Pink magazine.
“We’re excited and honored to have Seong Ohm as an advisor, especially with all the rapid growth and startup activity we’ve seen in e-commerce and especially in Asia,” stated Jay McCarthy, Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Global Ventures.
“Seong’s general insights and experiences in retail and as a Fortune 500 executive will be valuable to entrepreneurs in our portfolio. Her breadth of experiences, such as helping to build out Walmart’s operations in Japan for nearly two years as their SVP & GMM of General Merchandise and Consumables, is very relevant to our startup CEOs and will be incredibly helpful,” Jay continued.