HyperConnect, which is servicing native video chat apps’Azar’ and’Hakunara Eve’ in the global market, received a huge sum of nearly 2 trillion won and sold it to the US Match Group, which is drawing attention from the industry.
Following the’People of Delivery’, it is a case where domestic startups were sold overseas in trillions, which is more attention.
HyperConnect announced on the 10th that the Match Group, a US NASDAQ-listed company, has agreed to acquire 100% of HyperConnect for $1.75 billion (about KRW 1.93 trillion). HyperConnect will continue its independent management system for the time being after this agreement, and the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
99% of users originate overseas… in the first half of last year, sales of 123.5 billion won
HyperConnect is a global social platform company founded in 2014. It developed Azar, a video chat app developed in Korea, and attracted an unusual 99% of users from overseas, including the Middle East. Hazard has over 540 million downloads in 230 countries.
In addition, the social live streaming service Hakuna Live, which is being serviced through the Japanese subsidiary, Movefast Company, is gaining popularity in global markets such as Turkey, Japan, India, and North America. The app recorded 23 million downloads as of December last year.
In addition, HyperConnect has rapidly expanded the service area of social dating apps by releasing video-based dating app’Slide’ in North America and Germany in November of last year.
HyperConnect has introduced an optimized video communication service regardless of country, communication network, terminal specifications, etc. with the technology of’Hyper Real-Time Communication (RTC)’. Thanks to this technology, it was able to grow rapidly in Middle Eastern countries where communication speeds are relatively slow and terminal specifications are low.
The company recorded sales of close to 170 billion won in 2019 and 123.5 billion won in the first half of 2020 alone. The number of employees working is around 300. Kim Sang-heon, former CEO of Naver, is also serving as a management advisor. It has won 50 million dollars in 2020, 30 million dollars in 2019, and 20 million dollars in 2018.
Sang-il Ahn, the largest shareholder…Altos Ventures and Softbank Ventures are also’jackpot’
HyperConnect’s major investments are Altos Ventures and Softbank Ventures, venture capitalists. The exact share ratio is not known, but the sale of HyperConnect led them to jackpot.
Altos Ventures invested about 2 billion won in December 2014 to purchase 833,330 common stock and 833,330 redeemable preferred stock (RCPS), respectively. At the time, the value of one share of HyperConnect was estimated at 1,260 won. In addition, Altos Ventures also participated in Series B investment in November 2015. At this time, it invested about 10 billion won with SoftBank Ventures to acquire 2.12740 preferred stocks. At the time, the issue price was 4,756 won. The company’s largest shareholder is known as CEO Ahn Sang-il.
Sang-il Ahn, CEO of HyperConnect, was born in 1981 and entered the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University in 2000, and founded Levi Search, a search engine company in 2007. After that, it established HyperConnect in 2014 and sold 100% of the company’s shares including subsidiaries for 2 trillion won in February this year.
HyperConnect, which has grown rapidly in the global market and gained success, also stood at the center of negative controversy. Last year, Hakuna Live caused the problem of overpayment for minors, and there was also a social issue that was misused as a channel for sexual exploitation of minors. The representative service, Hazard, also had controversy over’Best Room’ (broadcasting naked).
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Match Group, which acquires HyperConnect, is servicing more than 40 global social apps, including the social dating app’Tinder’. It is a global company with a market cap of about 47 trillion won, which occupies an overwhelming market share in the non-game app sector in global big markets such as North America, Europe, and Japan. Tinder is expected to solidify its leadership position in the global dating app market with Hazard through the acquisition of HyperConnect.
Meanwhile, the sale of HyperConnect is another big deal that connects elegant brothers (people of delivery) who acquired about 88% of their shares in Germany’s Delivery Hero at the end of 2019. It was recorded as a representative example of a successful sale of a domestic startup to an overseas company.