A Korean Startup with Expertise in Video Communication
As early as 2013, Hyperconnect’s founders knew the world would enter an era of video-based communication — especially in the realm of social discovery and online relationships. As such, developing a low-latency and reliable real-time video communication technology was a critical first step given the gaps in existing platforms. After extensive development, Hyperconnect succeeded in developing and commercializing a form of Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC) video technology tailored to mobile environments. Combined with practical application of artificial intelligence technology — which enabled safe and fun online communities from the beginning — Hyperconnect’s fast and stable video technology has underpinned a series of successful social app products. Through real-time 1-to-1 video chat app “Azar” (2014), social live-streaming platform Hakuna (2019) and social discovery dating concept Slide (2020), Hyperconnect has earned its credentials as a truly global video technology company, loved by users in every corner of the globe.
Robust foundation drives global popularity
Hyperconnect’s strength lies in its product-first philosophy, wherein robust technologies drive positive user experiences no matter what. For example, the company’s optimized WebRTC video technology connects users seamlessly by overcoming shaky mobile network environments, low-specification smartphones and other obstacles — achievements unobtained by other video chat services. Thus, despite its humble beginnings as a small South Korean startup, Hyperconnect drives consistent traffic from all over — with large user bases in the Middle East and Europe.
Hyperconnect’s flagship product Azar, which enables users to meet counterparts from around the world, was an instant success from 2014. With a cumulative download tally of over 500 million, Azar is ranked in the top 5 globally and 4th in Europe in the Google Play Non-Gaming Apps category (Sensor Tower 2020) and among the top 10 apps by revenue in 60 countries in the Apple App Store Social Network category. Available in 19 languages across 230 countries with a 99% non-Korean user base, Azar has been dubbed 'a global village in the palm of your hand'.
Leadership in advanced artificial intelligence
In addition to its world-first WebRTC mobile video technology, Hyperconnect has relentlessly pursued innovation in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence. In particular, Hyperconnect developed an ultra-lightweight ‘on-device AI' engine and successfully deployed an image-based recognition function in 'Azar' in February 2017. On-device AI, which works directly on mobile devices without data ever routing through a server, drives powerful in-app capabilities while mitigating data privacy issues. Such proprietary technology places Hyperconnect among the elite of global technology companies — next to the likes of Google and Facebook.
Hyperconnect’s accolades also include its real-time voice translation technology, ultimately published and adopted in 2019 and 2020 at INTERSPEECH, the International Society for Speech Language Processing. Hyperconnect was the first Korean company to win the CVPR 2018 International Low-Power Image-Type Competition (LPIRC)—ranked 2nd after Qualcomm and ahead of Facebook at 3rd— and in 2016 collaborated with Google to introduce a machine learning-based real-time voice translation function to Azar.
World-class monitoring technology
Hyperconnect recently announced that the latest iteration of its deep learning-based “AI monitoring system” can now pre-block unwanted video content within 0.006 second, depending on the device specification. Given this technology operates “on-device.” videos are not sent to the server, therefore protecting user identities and privacy. Beyond automatic AI detection, Hyperconnect has a robust user report protocol, wherein AI can analyze and pre-screen user reports to assess whether violation of community guidelines has occurred and either take immediate action or refer reports onwards to monitoring personnel
Hyperconnect also has recently revealed its plans to enter the enterprise business. In addition to video communication APIs such as one-on-one video, group video, and real-time live streaming, it will provide a package of AI, AR, and monitoring technologies — offering its own tried and tested B2C technologies to corporate clients globally.