Match buys VC-backed Korean social platform for $1.7b
Hyperconnect, a Korean social media platform backed by Altos Ventures and SoftBank Ventures Korea, has agreed to an acquisition by online dating giant Match Group for $1.73 billion in cash and stock.
The company was established in 2014 and received $2 million in funding from Altos later that year, AVCJ Research’s records show. The venture capital firm re-upped in 2015, participating in a KRW10 billion ($8.5 million) Series A round alongside SoftBank.
Hyperconnect’s flagship product is Azar, which claims to be the highest-grossing one-to-one live video and audio app globally, with more than 540 million downloads to date. It was a global pioneer in web real-time communication (WebRTC) for mobile and then developed the world’s first real-time voice translation function for communication use. The service covers 230 countries and 19 languages.
Azar had made more than 85 billion cumulative matches – users can instantaneously accept invitations to connect by swiping left on the app – as of June 2020. It ranked sixth among all non-gaming apps by revenue generated in Europe last year, according to market research firm Sensor Tower. The first five places were occupied by Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Google One.
In 2019, Hyperconnect introduced Hakuna Live, a social live streaming app that enables group video and audio broadcasts. Features include virtual gifting, artificial reality-powered avatars, profile enhancements, and communities built around shared interests. It has achieved more than 23 million downloads and claims strong momentum in South Korea and Japan.
Slide, a video-first dating and social discovery app targeting the US market, was launched earlier this year.
Hyperconnect is headquartered in Seoul and has approximately 400 employees. Revenue across all products exceeded $200 million in 2020, up 50% year-on-year. Han Kim, a general partner at Altos, noted in a LinkedIn post that the company – which started with a team of three – has been cash positive since inception.
"Hyperconnect's live video and audio engagement technology is a powerful tool that enables users to connect with new people and cultures on a global basis. Hyperconnect's engineering team is relentlessly imaginative and creative. With more than 75% of usage and revenue coming from markets spread across Asia, their product suite and regional footprint squarely complements our own,” Shar Dubery, CEO of Match, said in a statement.
Match’s online dating product portfolio includes Tinder, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, Pairs, PlentyOfFish, and OurTime. The company generated $2 billion in revenue in 2019 – of which Tinder contributed $1.1 billion – and had 9.28 million average subscribers.
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