Korean startup NRISE, operator of online home training platform ‘QUAT’ and social discovery service ‘WIPPY,’ attracted 12.5 billion won ($9.6 million) Series B bridge investment. The total investment amount is 19.2 billion won ($14.7 million). LB Investment and Bokwang Investment participated as new investors in this round, led by Korea Investment Partners and Daekyo Investment, which are existing shareholders.
Investors said they decided to invest in NRISE, which has maintained solid growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic. NRISE sales recorded 27.2 billion ($20 million) in 2020 and 34.5 billion won ($26.5 million) in 2021.
NRISE, an IT startup launched in 2011, provides a healthy and diverse lifestyle based on ‘connection.’ Representative services include QUAT, an exercise app for beginners, and WIPPY, a social app that finds friends in the neighborhood. Subscription-type home training platform QUAT is leading sales expansion as a new key source of revenue following WIPPY, accounting for 60% of NRISE’s total sales within one year of its official launch. NRISE plans to intensively nurture QUAT by paying attention to the rapidly growing exercise and health market.
NRISE plans to use this investment as a stepping stone to expand the business of QUAT and WIPPY. QUAT is preparing to leap forward as an integrated vertical exercise platform. It plans to release digital weight scale packaging and provide customized exercise curation content based on subscribers’ exercise and health data.
At the same time, health and functional food and nutritional supplement recommendations suitable for body data, various challenges and exercise certification community functions will be introduced. WIPPY plans to solidify its position as the No. 1 social discovery service in Korea and accelerate its entry into overseas markets such as Taiwan and Japan.
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