[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Alchera is soaring. It appears that the news of Naver Z applying new game features to Zepeto within this year is influencing the stock price.
As of 9:33 AM on the 26th, Alchera is trading at 55,200 KRW, up 11.52% compared to the previous trading day.
Park Sang-jin, CFO of Naver, stated during the conference call held immediately after the Q2 earnings announcement on the 22nd, "Zepeto has a creative support platform called 'Zepeto Studio' where users can directly create virtual space maps and items," adding, "We plan to add features that allow game development on the platform within this year." The service enabling users to create games is similar to Roblox.
New user inflow continues on the metaverse communication platform Zepeto. The global MAU reaches 12 million, and cumulative subscribers have surpassed 200 million. Over 80% of Zepeto users are teenagers.
It is interpreted that Roblox, a game-based metaverse service, recently established a Korean subsidiary to strengthen Zepeto's competitiveness. Roblox headquarters plans to actively support online game and development platform-related services of the Korean subsidiary.
Alchera is an AI video recognition solution specialist company founded in 2016 by researchers from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. The largest shareholder is Snow, a Naver subsidiary, holding a 15.4% stake. Alchera possesses world-class technology in facial recognition AI and anomaly detection AI fields. It ranked first domestically in the global largest facial recognition test (FRVT) hosted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Researcher Kang Kyung-geun of NH Investment & Securities explained, "We jointly established Place A, which develops full-body recognition technology, with Snow," adding, "Place A has technology that recognizes body movements in real-time and replicates them in virtual environments."
He continued, "This technology was installed in ‘Zepeto World,’ a 3D virtual environment developed by Naver Z," adding, "Zepeto World is a 3D avatar-based SNS service where users enjoy the metaverse by interacting with others and enjoying various content such as concerts using their avatars."
Researcher Choi Jae-ho of Hana Financial Investment analyzed, "To enjoy a realistic and vivid 3D virtual world, corresponding technology is necessary," and "Among Alchera’s technologies, real-time full-body recognition technology is representative."
He added, "With the expansion of Zepeto services and diversification of revenue models, continuous additional orders based on technological capabilities are expected," and "We judge that it has a high possibility of emerging as a growth engine for Alchera."
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