BlueCity launches it IPO on the NASDAQ in July. Photo: Courtesy of BlueCity

BlueCity Holdings, owner of China's biggest dating app for gay men, announced Wednesday it had acquired Chinese lesbian dating platform LESDO, expanding its footprint in the LGBTQ market.

LESDO, launched in 2014, is a leading location-based social networking service provider targeting the lesbian community in China.

"This acquisition marks a significant milestone in implementing our strategy to serve subgroups within the broader LGBTQ community," said BlueCity.

Ma Baoli, BlueCity's founder, chairman and chief executive officer said: "We continue to execute our strategy to expand services to serve other sub-groups of the broader LGBTQ community. This acquisition represents our determination to better serve more members of the LGBTQ community."

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, the global LGBTQ population was approximately 450 million in 2018, and is expected to grow to 591 million by 2023.

Lesbian and bisexual women combined account for 38.5 percent of the LGBTQ population, representing nearly 200 million people globally, data from the report showed.

The size of the global LGBTQ market was $3,860.3 billion in 2018 by consumption and marketing expenditure, and it is expected to reach $5,425.9 billion by 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 7 percent.

Along with the acquisition, BlueCity released second-quarter results on Wednesday. Total revenues reached 247.4 million yuan ($35 million), an increase of 32.2 percent from the same period in 2019.

Revenues from membership services reached 15.8 million, up 129.6 percent. Monthly active users on the Blued mobile app reached 6.4 million, an increase of 11.2 percent from the same period in 2019.

BlueCity raised $84.8 million in a NASDAQ IPO in July.

Founded in 2011, Blued is the largest gay social network app in the world with 54 million registered users in as many as 210 countries and regions.