SEUM advised in a merger transaction between CAKE Corporation, an English education platform and affiliate of Naver, and HYBE EDU Inc., a subsidiary of HYBE, a global entertainment company and agency for artists such as BTS.

CAKE was previously a part of SNOW, another affiliate of Naver, and it became a separate entity in 2020. It is rapidly growing and attracting attention along with 2 other similarly organized subsidiaries of Naver, KREAM and Naver Z. CAKE provides mobile English learning services in a short-form format by curating contents of native speakers based on YouTube. It reached 100 million downloads with 10 million monthly active users. It ranks in the top of the language learning applications just second to Duolingo. Last year CAKE attracted investment from private equity funds in the amount of KRW 10 billion. It became highly recognized as a top global education company.

HYBE EDU, as a subsidiary of HYBE, has been operating a language learning business based on K-pop artist-related contents to enable effective learning of the language and culture for international fans of the Korean artists. In 2020, “Learn! KOREAN with BTS” was introduced in 30 countries around the world and reached sales of over 300,000 copies. The driving force behind the exponential growth of HYBE EDU has been cited to be the use of various K-pop artist-related contents.

CAKE and HYBE EDU announced the plan to develop the Korean language learning business in the global market through CAKE which gained share in the global language learning market by leveraging the artist-related contents of HYBE EDU through this merger. The merger would be followed by effective business strategies to stay ahead of the language learning market and to continue growing in the market.

SEUM represented CAKE and advised in the entire process of merger with HYBE EDU.