[THE INVESTOR] Korean health care platform firm CareLabs on July 10 said it has acquired BNK Lab, the operator of social dating apps, in a bid to strengthen its services in beauty and dating sector. 

CareLabs paid 11 billion won (US$9.85 million) in return for the entire 50,000 shares of BNK Lab. 

Through the acquisition, CareLabs seeks to further develop its platform, while growing user traffic and marketing campaigns utilizing BNK Lab’s platforms that boasts a combined monthly active users of 240,000. They include Babitalk, which provides information on cosmetic surgery, and multiple dating apps such as DangYeonsi and Sweetme. 

CareLabs also eyes to expand into overseas markets in the future, by launching its beauty and dating apps in other countries through local partnership. 

“Both CareLabs and BNK Lab are online-to-offline platforms, popular among people in their 20s and 30s,” an official at CareLabs said. “We expect to see great synergies together, as we increase our user base and expand into overseas markets.”

CareLabs has been putting all-out efforts to invest in beauty and health care startups. In June, it invested 6.5 billion won for an 18.4 percent stake in health care data startup Life Semantics. Earlier in May, it injected 5 billion won in a local venture capital firm Daily Partners for a 45.5 percent stake, in an effort to discover promising IT, bio and health care startups together. CareLabs also purchased a majority stake in US app Beauty Social, which provides cosmetic surgery estimates. 

On news of the acquisition, shares of CareLabs closed at 35,200 won, up 18.12 percent from the previous day.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)