‘2 trillion won jackpot’… Korean startup made’Middle East’s KakaoTalk’ was sold to the US

HyperConnect, a domestic start-up known as’KakaoTalk in Middle East,’ was acquired by Match Group, which is servicing the world’s largest dating app,’Tinder,’ for 1.93 trillion won ($1,725 ​​billion). It is the second largest among Korean internet companies since the Dynasty of Delivery (elegant brothers) was acquired by German Delivery Hero (DH) for 4.75 trillion won ($4 billion) in December 2019. In particular, a company that started as a domestic startup attracted service users with only a global background, and in the end, it was evaluated as a unicorn company with an enterprise value exceeding 1 trillion won, and it is an evaluation that it presented a new legend to the domestic startup industry.

On the 10th, a domestic startup HyperConnect announced that Match Group, a NASDAQ-listed company in the US, agreed to acquire a 100% stake in HyperConnect for $1.725 billion (about KRW 1.93 trillion). Match Group is servicing more than 40 global social apps, including the world’s largest dating app,’Tinder’. Match Group is a company with a market cap of 47 trillion won, providing various services in North America, Europe, and Japan.

HyperConnect is a video and artificial intelligence (AI)-based video technology company founded in 2014 by young people from Seoul National University College of Engineering and Pohang University. ‘Azar’, a video messenger app created by this company, is used by more than 100 million people in 19 languages ​​in 230 countries around the world. In particular, the share of global users reaches 99%, and there are many users in Europe and India, including the Middle East.

Hazard is the concept of having a one-on-one video conversation with randomly connected strangers, and although it is not recognized in Korea, it has an excellent presence in the overseas market. In particular, in the Middle East, it has secured a position comparable to that of KakaoTalk in the Korean market. Instead of texting and calling, they targeted cultures that were familiar with video calls and literally made a’jackpot’.

This acquisition of HyperConnect is an analysis that the needs between’Azar,’ which is dominating the world with video-based services, and the match group running’Tinder’, a photo-based dating app, have met. Azar has secured as strong users as KakaoTalk in the Middle East, Europe, and India, but its performance in North America has not yet been outstanding. On the other hand, the Match Group said that services such as Tinder had struggled in Asia and the Middle East, and the need for video-based services increased as they suffered from the Corona 19 crisis last year.

Through this acquisition, HyperConnect plans to accelerate its targeting in global big markets such as North America and Japan, and further strengthen the launch of new businesses such as next-generation social services to the global market. It plans to focus on accelerating the settlement of’Slide,’ a video-based social discovery & dating app recently launched in North America. An official from HyperConnect explained, “HyperConnect’s video AI technology has been an opportunity to be properly evaluated around the world,” and “It was included as one of the 40 subsidiaries of the Match Group and was guaranteed independent management and service operation in the future.”

In particular, it is known that this acquisition was made through active courtship of the match group. An official from HyperConnect explained, “The match group has sent a love call from HyperConnect before HyperConnect’s full-fledged explanation of IR investment in the first half of 2019.” In fact, HyperConnect’s Azar service ranked 6th in the global Google Play non-game sales category in January 2020, and exceeded 500 million cumulative downloads only in the first half of last year.

“As people spend more and more time online, people want a richer and more in-depth experience,” said Shar Dubay, CEO of Match Group. “HyperConnect’s live video and audio technology brings users around the world to new people, new people. “It provides a powerful means of connecting with culture.”

Ahn Sang-il, CEO of HyperConnect, said, “In an environment where competition in the global social discovery market is intensifying, we have joined hands with global leading companies such as Match Group for larger global growth along with targeting big markets such as North America and Japan.” “We are pleased to see that HyperConnect has proved that the industry can create business opportunities in the global market with innovative technology, and we welcome the Match Group that values ​​the value of technology as a partner.”

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