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Momo (Chinese: 陌陌; pinyin: mò mò) is a free location-based services instant messaging application for smartphones for chatting up nearby strangers. Momo provides free text messaging services. In addition, users can also send each other images, location information, and audio media messages. The client software is available for both Android and iOS. The company by the same name was founded in March 2011 by Tang Yan, Zhang Sichuan, Lei Xiaoliang and Li Zhiwei, most of whom are veterans of NetEase, and is based in Beijing, China.

Momo was initially launched in China in August 2011. Its international version was launched in October 2012 but has been only available for iOS by now.

Both one-on-one chat and group chats on Momo are available over Wifi or 3G. By now, there are still limits to the number of friends and the number of users to join in group chat. At present, Momo for English version only provides one-on-one chat.

Founding and incorporation
Momo was initially released in August 2011 by Beijing Momo Technology Company, which was founded in March 2011 by Tang Yan, Zhang Sichuan, Lei Xiaoliang and Li Zhiwei. Most of the co-founders are veterans of Netease and Sina Corp, two largest portal sites in China. Tang Yan, Ex-Chief Editor of NetEase, is CEO of Momo.

Growth
In December 2011, Momo announced surpassing half a million users. Three months later, the number of Momo users reached 2 million. It hit 10 million users on its first anniversary in August 2012, which means it's apparently picking up new signups at the rate of over one million per month. In October 2012, the number of Momo's register users has surpassed 15 million. At the same time, Momo began to eye overseas markets and released its English version. On December 4, 2012, the number of Momo users reached 20 million.

Financing
Momo's first round was worth $2.5 million and was led by Matrix Partners. It completed its Series B financing in October 2012. This round of financing was led by two institution investors and received $100 million valuation. China Renaissance Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor. Momo Technology had once again gained huge interests from capital market since its first round of financing in 2011. Rumors suggested that Momo had raised a whopping $40 million in series B funding and Alibaba Group had been involved. However, neither Momo nor Alibaba Group did give their formal response.

Product and services
1.0 one-on-one 2.0 group 3.0 place of interest

Anti-plagiarism
In December 2012, Momo made an official announcement to accuse Sina Corp of copycatting straight from all the features of Momo Group. However, Sina Corp did not give its formal response.

Mike Sui's video
On April 27, 2012, Mike Sui, a mixed-race comedian and performer in China, first posted his "12 Beijingers" viral video which attracted nearly 5.17 million hits. In this video, one character mentions Momo, for the first time calling it a magical tool to get laid (Chinese: 约炮神器; pinyin: yuē páo shén qì ). Since then, Momo became synonymous with getting laid. However, Momo never gives its formal response to this.

A new way to build a serious relationship
Although Momo is widely considered as a tool of getting laid, there are always new couples claiming that they met on Momo and resulted in marriage.