LGU+ In-House Venture Dating Service 'HeartTravel' to Spin Off in Early Next Year

LG Uplus announced on the 6th that the dating service ‘Heart Travel’ by its in-house venture team ‘D In-house Venture TF’ has surpassed a matching rate of 48% and over 880 subscribers within 6 months of the homepage opening. ‘D In-house Venture TF,’ which operates ‘Heart Travel,’ plans to spin off under the name ‘Kemi Company Inc.’ in the first half of next year.

‘Heart Travel’ is a service with a dating program concept conducted without cameras, selecting a total of 12 men and women per cohort to go on a 1-night, 2-day trip. Participants who wish to apply for the gathering submit their profiles and ideal types, and Heart Travel’s proprietary matching system analyzes each other’s ideal types to select participants with a high possibility of matching.

Introduction image of 'Heart Travel'. [Photo by LG Uplus]

Afterward, the selected participants go on trips or picnics together, introducing themselves and engaging in various activities and one-on-one conversations to get to know each other. Before the gathering ends, participants choose the opposite sex they like and exchange contact information to successfully complete the final match.

The reason ‘Heart Travel’ achieved a 48% matching rate within 6 months of service launch is its unique ‘ideal type matching system.’ Unlike other dating services that generally operate on a first-come, first-served basis, ‘Heart Travel’ selects participants who meet the conditions desired by users and gathers those likely to match well to run the program.

As of December, 37% of all ‘Heart Travel’ members are in their 20s, and 59% are in their 30s. It is analyzed that many 30-something members who want serious relationships with marriage in mind have joined. In fact, a couple who participated in the first cohort trip to Gapyeong and succeeded in matching became the first married couple of ‘Heart Travel.’

‘D In-house Venture TF’ also launched a ‘Heart Travel Light’ version that maintains the matching concept but offers a more casual same-day gathering for participants who find traveling burdensome. Instead of a 1-night, 2-day trip, the same-day gathering service lowers the entry barrier. The first cohort of the Light version, whose applications closed on the 3rd, recorded a competition rate of 5:1, proving its popularity.

‘Heart Travel’ is entering a phase of service advancement and operational scale expansion ahead of its spin-off in the first half of next year, and is currently preparing to launch a separate app to simplify the program application process through its website.

Sehun Park, PM (Team Leader) of LG Uplus ‘D In-house Venture TF,’ said, “The reason for its popularity seems to be that, unlike typical dating services, participants are selected according to their ideal types to run the program,” adding, “As the dating app market continues to grow, we will refine the program to provide matchmaking services that fit the trends.”

Meanwhile, LG Uplus has been operating an in-house venture system since 2018. Teams selected as in-house ventures receive support funds of 120 million KRW and workspace, and after about six months of in-house mentoring and accelerating processes, the feasibility of commercialization is assessed. Teams that successfully complete this process can spin off. So far, LG Uplus has successfully spun off a total of six in-house ventures, including the smart logistics startup ‘Diver,’ with total investment attraction amounting to about 7.7 billion KRW.