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Hello Group runs a Chinese dating and social app called Momo, plus a separate app called Tantan, and makes money mostly from people buying virtual gifts and subscriptions.
Hello Group is a Chinese social and dating company. Its flagship app, Momo, started as a way for strangers nearby to chat, and it grew into a place where people watch live streams, join group chats, and send each other virtual gifts. A second app, Tantan, works more like Tinder: swipe left or right on people nearby to find a match. Together, these apps serve hundreds of millions of registered users in China, mostly young adults looking to meet people, kill time, or show off a little.
The money mostly comes from entertainment, not from charging people to send messages. Users buy virtual coins and spend them on digital gifts — a rose, a sports car, a castle — that they send to live-stream hosts or to people they are chatting with. The company keeps a cut of each gift, and the host gets the rest. Momo also sells subscriptions, such as a premium tier that lets you see who viewed your profile, and it runs a small advertising business. Tantan, by contrast, makes most of its money from subscriptions that unlock extra swipes and better matches. The business is profitable and throws off a lot of cash, but growth is hard. China's internet population is already huge, and the pool of new users to sign up is shrinking. Competition is fierce from short-video giants like Douyin, which eat into people's screen time, and from other dating apps. Tantan has struggled to grow, and the company has spent heavily to keep it alive. At the same time, regulators in China have cracked down on live-streaming and on apps that mix strangers together, adding uncertainty to the core business. Hello Group has used its cash to buy back its own shares aggressively, a sign management thinks the stock is cheap. The company has also tried to build new things, like a dating app for overseas markets, though those efforts are still small. The core story is simple: a mature, cash-rich app company in a market that is no longer growing quickly, trying to squeeze more money from the users it already has while searching for a second act.
Saved answer · last researched 22 Oct 2026
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