Yanadoo Acquires 'OpenRider,' Korea's No.1 Bicycle App

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao Edutech affiliate Yanadoo announced on the 13th that it will acquire Kupit, the operator of 'OpenRider,' the largest domestic bicycle application (app) with 1.7 million members.

OpenRider was the world's first to launch a bicycle road priority navigation service and offers features such as a bicycle speedometer, ride record management, recommendations for famous nationwide bicycle courses, smartwatches, wearables, and cycling sensor IoT integration, making it an essential app for bicycle users.

Yanadoo plans to integrate OpenRider with 'Yafit Cycle' to evolve into an online-offline integrated metaverse platform. By combining the existing 3 million Yanadoo members with 1.7 million OpenRider members, they aim to secure 5 million members by the end of the year and grow into a bona fide super app.

Previously, Yanadoo entered the home training market by launching 'Yafit Cycle' based on the know-how accumulated in the education market. Through this, they successfully created new momentum by rapidly expanding their existing edutech-centered business structure into a metaverse-based sportstech business.

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Yafit Cycle, a new concept metaverse home training service where users can exercise like playing a game in a virtual world and also earn money, has gained attention and established itself as a solid killer service, recording sales of 15 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year.

Building on the successful establishment of Yafit Cycle, which has been a focus of new business, Yanadoo plans to accelerate its transformation into a metaverse company centered on exercise and education. They aim for sales of 140 billion KRW this year and will invest 50 billion KRW in building the metaverse platform and developing services.

Kim Jungsoo, Chief Vision Officer (CVO) of Yanadoo, stated, "As Yafit Cycle sales gain momentum, we plan to add various services such as steppers climbing mountains worldwide and rowing machines that allow users to exercise while traveling rivers and seas to showcase the essence of metaverse home training services to users. This year, we aim to firmly transform into a metaverse platform company centered on sportstech and edutech, with a goal of going public next year with a corporate value of 1 trillion KRW."

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