YNOT EUROPE – London-based Global Personals Ltd. has acquired freemium white-label dating platform WooWise, the companies announced this week. WooWise’s best-known product is dating site Smooch.com, which in 2010 ranked among the top 10 dating sites in the UK, according to Experian Hitwise.

The deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, also included ManCentral.com. According to a Global Personals spokesperson, ManCentral is expected to help grow the company’s gay dating division.

WooWise principals Martin Bysh and Marcus Hamilton will serve as advisors to Global Personals.

The newly acquired websites will offer free and freemium versions to clients of Global Personals’ wholly owned White Label Dating subsidiary.

“The two biggest disrupters of the last decade in the online dating industry have been white-label platforms and free dating,” said WhiteLabelDating.com Chief Executive Officer Ross Williams. “With both of these in place, we are now positioned to dominate this exciting, profitable and ever-growing industry.

“The team is really impressed by the WooWise freemium white-label system, which will allow our partners to grow into this popular dating space, currently dominated by Badoo and Plenty Of Fish,” Williams added. “The deal will help our partners monetize members who may not wish to pay on a traditional subscription-based dating site.”

Former WooWise CEO Bysh indicated the Global Personals brand was a good fit for his company, both philosophically and financially.

“Having previously worked as an Adult.WhiteLabelDating.com partner, I have nothing but respect for the team and their business acumen,” he said. “We had some very strong offers on the table from leading global players in the market but chose Global Personals Ltd. for their honesty and decency, which was confirmed during this process. The company seems to be soaking up the best talent from the dating, digital and media industries and will be able to grow Smooch and our white-label services to a worldwide audience.”

According to Williams, WhiteLabelDating.com, launched in 2003, powers more than 7,500 dating websites globally for 1,500 partners in the U.S., the UK, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada. The company experienced revenue growth of 1,371 percent in the past five years, with current annual revenues valued at $58 million.