Currently, the size of the hobby-sharing market is estimated at approximately 4 trillion won, and one company is attracting attention as it enters the sports activities, adult hobby education, and travel markets.

He is Lim Soo-yeol, CEO of ‘Frientrip’ and is targeting the market with Korea’s largest host-based hobby leisure platform called ‘FRIP’.

In particular, it has been recognized for its ideas and technology and has been selected as an excellent startup in several competitions, making it a future unicorn company.

CEO Lim Soo-yeol said, “Currently, about 1.4 million users are experiencing various hobbies and leisure activities through Frip, and about 22,000 hosts are earning profits through product sales.”

CEO Lim said, “The sports activity market is the field where FRIP is most competitive. We are expanding our expandability by increasing various sports activity gatherings and introducing related products to the MZ generation who are interested in cultivating and expressing themselves through exercise.”

“The hobby education market for adults targets customers who want to enjoy special activities or hobbies in a deeper and more specialized way, and we are also creating retention devices such as various community elements so that they can enjoy various hobbies on an ongoing basis rather than simply as a one-time event.” he emphasized.

CEO Lim expects that special purpose tourism (SIT) will be more popular than one-size-fits-all package travel in the future and is considering expanding into the global market.

He participated in the ‘2023 Tourism Global Challenge Y&Bridge’ hosted by Y&Archer early this year and received various supports, including IR consulting to strengthen investment capabilities and discovery of overseas local partners.

CEO Lim said, “Now, what you go to do rather than where you go will become an important motivation for traveling.”

“Based on these interests, FRIP began selling SIT travel products overseas, including in Indonesia and the Philippines, in the second half of this year.”

“We want to expand our global reach so that people can experience our services overseas.”

He added, “We will do our best so that Koreans can meet local hosts abroad and enjoy activities through FRIP, and conversely, foreigners can meet Korean hosts in Korea and enjoy activities that can only be done in Korea.”

“Our dream is to see each person’s life become happier while exploring various hobbies and leisure experiences,” he said.