Naver eyes acquisition of Vimosoft
Naver founder Lee Hae-jin speaks during a conference at the company's headquarters in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, in Oct. 2020. / Korea times file
By Kim Jae-heun
Information technology (IT) giant Naver is considering investing in local software firm Vimosoft, best-known for developing a video-editing application called VLLO.
According to an industry source, Naver is in the early stage of talks to acquire a major stake in the software developer, which is displaying huge growth potential both domestically and in overseas markets.
“Naver had recently proposed a meeting with Vimosoft. Although it was officially a light meeting for cooperation, Naver has opened the possibility of investment and the chance is high that it will be successful,” the source said.
Details of the proposed stake acquisition remain unclear, while Naver denied prospects of such a deal.
“We are not aware of the rumors and no such thing is taking place as far as I know,” a Naver official said.
Vimosoft, founded in 2015 by Lee Kyung-hyun who is also its current head, reported less than 200 million won in annual sales until 2018. But in 2019, revenue soared 62 percent to 1.7 billion won. Mirae Asset Venture Investment took notice of the growth potential of the software developer and invested 2 billion won that year. Vimosoft has utilized the money to undertake aggressive marketing overseas to secure more global users. The company also plans to introduce desktop editions of the software for Windows and Mac computers in the near future.
VLLO is currently available in 12 languages and has more users in the United States and Japan than in Korea.
Lee learned about video-editing technology after starting his career in a software firm working on motion graphics and video editing applications in 2011. He realized the lack of a decent editing software program for use on mobile phones despite an increasing number of people taking videos with their handsets.
VLLO allows users to easily cut and paste video clips while inserting background music. This made it much more convenient for Vlogers or YouTubers who have no professional skills in editing video content.