Hyperconnect, a Seoul based global video communication company, announced on May 19 that its sales exceeded 168.9 billion won (USD 146 million) last year.
This is more than 60% growth over the previous year (2018). The technology-driven company has been showing sales growth of more than 60% annually since its service started in 2014, with operating profit also on the rise.
Last year's results were driven by both the growth of the company's flagship service ‘Azar’, a global video chat service, and the successful launch and high grossing of the social live streaming service ‘Hakuna Live’.
'Azar' gained the explosive interest of the MZ generation (millennial-Z generation), who is accustomed to communicating through video, and has recorded 400 million downloads worldwide.
Due to the rapid growth in key markets, such as Asia and the Middle East, and new markets, such as Europe, ‘Azar’ has strengthened its position as a global video platform, going as far as ranking 5th in the 'Google Play Store’ worldwide in December of 2019, in the non-game app sales section, as announced by Sensor Tower, a mobile market research company. It also ranked fourth in the 'European Non-Game App Sales Ranking' of the same year.
Following in the footsteps and history of success of its predecessor, 'Hakuna Live' is a 'Social Live Streaming' service that enhances the communication between hosts and multi-guests in real time. With its 'Guest Mode' function and WebRTC technology(HyperRTC), it allows up to four people to simultaneously broadcast on the existing live stream with no delay.
'Hakuna Live' has not only exceeded 10 billion won in sales in 2019, it’s first year, but has also continued its high streak by reaching 10 million downloads. It was selected as the Google Play Award Winner of 'Entertainment App likely to shine this year'. Furthermore, the app also ranked first as Korea's Entertainment App Revenue, solidifying its position even further.
“Hyperconnect is a technology driven company in video communication and mobile optimized AI technology. We introduced mobile WebRTC for the first time in the world in 2013 and developed on-device deep learning engine in 2016 (recognized for its technologies multiple times at world class conferences such as CVPR, Interspeech, AAAI). Backed by technologies, Hyperconnect has been reborn as a multi-product company that succeeds both its representative app 'Azar' and new app 'Hakuna Live',” said Hyperconnect CEO, Ahn Sang-il. “We will continue to invest and develop new technologies to lead the current video communication era where video became a new normal in corona pandemic.”
Hyperconnect plans to continue its growth in 2020 through large-scale talent recruitment.
