image credit: Bamboo Works
Key Takeaways
Milian has filed for an IPO, building its business by turning traditional matchmaking into a scalable online role using live three-way video chats
Its rise comes as rival Hello Group deals with tax trouble and a yearslong user decline, while Soulgate makes its own listing attempt with an AI-heavy emotional-economy pitch
In a room on the Yidui dating service, romance doesn't begin with a swipe, but rather with an unlikely third-wheel to grease the often-awkward process of meeting someone new. The Chinese dating and social app is built around live, three-way video chats, where a host sits above two users on the screen and helps to keep the conversation moving. Part ice-breaker, part emcee, part digital-age matchmaker, the online ringmaster steps in when things get awkward, fills the silences, and tries to coax two strangers into something resembling chemistry.
That unusual approach lies at the center of Milian Technology Inc.'s IPO story for investors: the company didn't try to reinvent dating from scratch. Instead, it simply reimagined a new rendition of one of China's oldest professions for an age of livestreaming and mobile payments.
That old-meets-new formula has become serious business for Milian, which refiled for a Hong Kong IPO last week after an earlier application lapsed. The company is pitching investors on something very different from the usual routine of picking out potential mates from a lineup, then engaging in getting-to-know-you chats. Its unusual "third wheel" formula for finding love appears to be rapidly gaining traction. Last year its revenue rose 74% year-on-year to 4.12 billion yuan ($570 million), while its profit more than tripled to 519.1 million yuan, most of that from Yidui. By then, the flagship app accounted for 81.7% of total revenue.
Milian is arriving on a Chinese dating scene that badly needs a fresh story. China's relationship-oriented online social market reached 22.6 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in 2024 and counted about 280 million users by mid-2025, making it large but hardly easy for companies trying to tap into the market, according to third-party market data in Milian's prospectus.
But that market isn't always necessarily a friendly place for business operators. Hello Group
