Match Group Acquires Korean Live Streaming Giant Hyperconnect For $1.7 Billion

Match Group has agreed to acquire the South Korea-based Hyperconnect, one of the world’s leading social discovery and video technology companies.

The deal is worth $1.725 billion making it Match Group’s biggest purchase to date. It’s due to be completed by the end of this year’s second financial quarter, following approval from the necessary regulatory authorities.

Hyperconnect operates two flagship brands: Azar and Hakuna Live. The former has a total of 540 million downloads and is considered the highest-grossing live chat app. Its capability to immediately translate audio and texts makes it easier for users to have conversations with people all around the globe.

Meanwhile, Hakuna Live is more focused on live streaming and supports a number of interactive features including virtual gifts, games and augmented reality avatars.

Shar Dubey, Match Group CEO, explained the acquisition in a statement: “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.

“We will leverage our deep bench of expertise to help accelerate Hyperconnect’s already-impressive growth, look to deploy Hyperconnect’s technologies across our existing portfolio, and continue to invest in their growth.”

It is already a fully profitable business having generated over $200 million in revenue last year, a 50% increase over 2019.

Match Group has previously been fully committed to online dating and apparently very reluctant to pursue social or live streaming products. However, it looks as though it will now use Hyperconnect’s 75% usage rate in Asia to experiment and expand in a market where live video is already incredibly popular.

In March, Match Group worked with The Meet Group to launch a live streaming mode on Plenty Of Fish, a project that was already being developed but had to be accelerated due to widespread lockdowns.

Visit the Hyperconnect website here.