[AI Era Education Industry] Learning Like a Game... Edutech Startup Boom Led by Game Company Veterans

⑦Ipapsoft, Weversmind, Hodulabs
Game Company Veterans Enter Edutech
Adding Game Fun Elements to Learning Gains Popularity... Rapid Revenue Growth

Editor's NoteTraditional education companies, which had grown centered on workbooks, are pouring their entire corporate capabilities into digital transformation using the know-how they have accumulated so far to respond to 'Edutech.' Emerging Edutech companies are threatening existing companies with their unique technological capabilities. We looked into what changes education companies are making in the Edutech era.

Jongheum Park, CEO of Ipopsoft.

In the 2010s, when the wave of the Fourth Industrial Revolution was sweeping through the education industry, traditional education companies such as workbooks, reference books, and textbook publishers, except for a few, failed to quickly adapt to Edutech. This was because they conducted their business centered on offline organizations such as sales or home tutoring rather than IT or technical personnel. Taking advantage of this gap, many people from the game industry, sensitive to trends, entered the education market. Startups that contributed to the popularization of Edutech by combining the fun elements of games with studying have recently increased their performance significantly and are on a growth path.

A representative company is Ipopsoft, which operates the AI English learning service 'Malhaeboca.' It is a startup established in 2018 by Nexon developers who created landmark games in Korea such as Crazy Arcade, KartRider, MapleStory, and FIFA Online, proposing to create educational content. Malhaeboca provides personalized English learning opportunities. AI adjusts the difficulty of questions according to the user's English proficiency by utilizing about 2.8 million word usage data. It also sets the review cycle based on the forgetting curve of English words. As an application developed by game industry veterans, it includes many fun elements such as leagues. League grades are determined based on the amount of learning, and as users are promoted, they earn more 'Diamonds' to decorate characters within the app.

Malhaeboca achieved the number one sales rank among English education apps on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in 2021. Its sales in the first half of this year reached 8.3 billion KRW, already surpassing last year's annual sales of 7.6 billion KRW. Ipopsoft entered the Japanese market last September. Japan had been a barren land for English education. However, following the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, English education has been mandatory for third-grade elementary school students and above since last year, sparking a fever for English education. Park Jongheum, CEO of Ipopsoft, said, "Japan is easy to respond to services because there is no time difference, and the word order is the same as Korea, so the linguistic similarity is high," adding, "The demand for English learning in Japan is at a level similar to Korea."

Jeong Seong is the CEO of Weverse Mind.

Weversmind, which operates the smart language learning brand 'Noesaegim,' is also an education company founded by game industry veterans. All founding members, including CEO Jung Seongeun, co-founder of Gamevil, come from mobile game companies, and it was established in 2009. Noesaegim is equipped with 12 domestic and international patented technologies developed by a learning research team from Seoul National University. The storytelling learning method simultaneously provides vivid pictures expressing English words and their meanings, enabling immediate recall of the context, situation, and meaning in which the words are used.

Weversmind's sales in the first quarter of this year increased by 26% compared to the same period last year. In the second quarter, the sales proportion of Noesaegim's 'AI Conversation' increased by 16.5% compared to the previous quarter. AI Conversation is a learning content where users converse with an AI tutor via messenger. The AI analyzes the conversation content and provides content tailored to the user's interests and learning level. A Weversmind official explained, "After the endemic phase (transition of infectious disease to endemic), demand for overseas travel has increased, leading to a sharp rise in sales of English education content," adding, "Our AI research lab is developing technology to provide a more personalized learning experience in line with the rapid changes in Edutech."

Kim Min-woo, CEO of Hodoo Labs.

Hodulabs, which operates 'Hodu English,' an English speaking content for toddlers and elementary school students, is also a startup that has stood out in the Edutech market by combining game elements with educational content. Its talent pool is so rich in game industry veterans that it could be called a game company, with many former employees from famous game companies such as NCSoft, Devsisters, Netmarble, and Identity Games. It was established when CEO Kim Minwoo, who was the Asia representative of Silicon Valley Edutech company 'Kidaptive,' acquired Hodu English in 2018.

Hodu English adopts the format of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). For example, if a user correctly pronounces an English sentence like 'How much is it?' in a given situation, they receive a reward and proceed to the next mission. It appropriately mixes rewards, growth, and social elements that provide high learning motivation. Children can decorate their own rooms and invite friends. In April last year, Hodu English was launched on Nintendo, a famous Japanese game company, for the first time not only in the domestic education industry but also in the game industry. In May, it also entered the Vietnamese market. A Hodulabs official said, "Vietnam, with a population close to 100 million, has an educational enthusiasm comparable to Korea," adding, "We will take the lead in promoting excellent K-Edutech content to the Southeast Asian region."