Gaydar is to receive a £2m funding boost from its owner, QSoft Consulting, in advance of the launch later this year of its new social networking portal.

The Gaydar Nation portal will go live in March, and will incorporate the Gaydar Radio network, which celebrated its fifth birthday earlier this week. It will also host the online version of the Rainbow Network lifestyle magazine, which QSoft acquired in 2003.

The development plan, formulated by the late chairman Gary Frisch, together with the QSoft board, will also include the extension of Gaydar Radio onto mobile.

Further plans to develop the Gaydar brand beyond broadcast and online into publishing, events and real estate will be announced in the Spring, QSoft said yesterday.

Gaydar's new mobile dating service also launches in the UK this year, initially to Gaydar.co.uk's 1.1 million subscribers.

Henry Badenhorst, managing director, QSoft Consulting, said: "Gaydar is a brand which has been created for the gay and lesbian community which we are wholly dedicated to serve.

"The growth of our dating, radio and travel services over the past nine years has led to the development of a brand new range of products and services which are designed to extend the Gaydar footprint further in 2007 to the benefit of all our users."

The company said the plans "honoured the memory and celebrated the vision" of its co-founder and chairman Gary Frisch, who died suddenly on Saturday 10 February.