Edutech Company Hodulabs Secures 13 Billion KRW Series B Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] EduTech specialist Hodoo Labs, which provides the metaverse (extended virtual world) English education service 'Hodoo English,' announced on the 3rd that it has completed a Series B investment round worth 13 billion KRW.

Participating in this Series B investment were LG Uplus, Korea Development Bank, InterVest, SDB Investment, as well as existing investors Capstone Partners and NPX Capital. Hodoo Labs raised approximately 13 billion KRW, bringing the total accumulated investment to 28.3 billion KRW.

During this investment round, Hodoo Labs was valued at about 60 billion KRW. This represents more than a threefold increase compared to the Series A investment round about a year ago.

Hodoo Labs' main business segment, Hodoo English, surpassed 50,000 paid subscribers domestically and recorded sales of 5.1 billion KRW last year, showing growth of over 50% compared to the previous year. Notably, this year, the company launched a Nintendo Switch version in Japan and expanded into B2B (business-to-business) sectors such as schools and private academies. The company explained that tangible results are also emerging in global markets, especially across Asia.

Additionally, the next-generation flagship service 'Betia English,' developed by the company, was ranked first in the game category and second overall in the 창구 (Changgu) program organized by the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development and Google, securing focused marketing support. This was also regarded by investors as a strong indicator of expected high growth.

The company plans to leverage this investment as a stepping stone to expand its core 'Hodoo English' service. In particular, the personalized video lesson service 'Hodoo Live,' developed using learner speech data accumulated within Hodoo English, aims for commercialization in early next year. Hodoo Live, developed in response to customer needs, received positive feedback during its Closed Beta Test (CBT) in June and is currently in the final development stage to provide a more stable service, the company explained.

Business expansion through the Series B investor network is also anticipated. The company expects that through LG Uplus, one of the investors, various business foundations for revenue diversification, such as content production contracts for 'Idulnara,' will be established.

Jung Junmyung, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Hodoo Labs, said, “We thank all stakeholders who trusted Hodoo Labs' potential and boldly invested despite the challenging market environment. Based on game-type content that has proven its potential in the market over the past several years, we plan to accelerate our entry into global markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia, aiming for growth as a metaverse-type platform with unlimited scalability beyond simple English education services, both domestically and internationally.”