Online dating has been a growing trend in Western hemisphere but of course people enjoy flirting all over the world. However, in some parts of the globe people use mobile phones instead of computers to go online, which makes browsing dating sites with rich content hard. That is what Eskimi, a Lithuanian-based start-up, capitalizes on: they created a platform for online flirting and dating specifically targeted at mobile phones. By this March the network attracted 1M registered users and four months later they are boasting 2.5M registered users. Turns out, Eskimi is growing in popularity mostly in Africa, becoming the biggest online flirting community in Nigeria - about 1M of new registered users come from there. Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia are also showing substantial growth, according to Vytautas Paukstys, CEO.

Out of all the registered users, about 950,000 are active on a monthly basis and around 170,000 use the service daily. Altogether users generate 15M pageviews per day (which is at least 5M more than four months ago). Plus the network continues growing with an average of 15,000 new registered users per day.

Due to its growing demographic, Eskimi would open its API for selected developers. The company is looking to cooperate with developers that would build applications suggested by the Eskimi's team. According to Vytas Paukštys, CEO, the suggestions are based on market and customer research, making them more likely to succeed. Eskimi promises to heavily promote such apps (for example, through product placement on the front page), reducing developer's need to spend time and money on marketing. Developers with their own applications outside of the suggested list are also invited to join. To apply for the access to API, developers need to contact Arūnas Butėnas.

Eskimi targets all mobile phones, with light versions for simpler models and heavier versions for smartphones. Its main appeal is ease of access: users do not need any credentials like email address to sign up, only a username, gender, date of birth and location. Once registered, users can browse all the content, upload photos and easily interact with other users.

'We are focusing on creating a fun and sticky mobile flirting community for people to chat, blog, share photos and experiences. We expanded the product with interests function that help customers express their interests and find new people who share the same interests. We try to make flirting fun, use match functions to fight gender imbalance which often happens in emerging countries. This strengthens the communication between customers and helps build stronger relationships',- explains Povilas Skrebutenas, Product Manager.

Eskimi's two revenue sources are virtual goods and mobile ads. European users tend to cash out most on virtual goods: between 10-15% of them are paying customers, as opposed to 3-4% in Africa and Asia. As a result, about 75% of Eskimi's revenue in Europe comes from virtual goods sales (online gifts, special skins for profiles, games), the rest from advertising. That number is only 40% in the emerging markets.