Yandex Acquires Hypee App

Yandex has acquired the Hypee app, which allows you to add effects and music to videos. The development team from the 4spaces studio, which owns Hypee, will move to Yandex.Zen, and the video editor will be built into the Yandex application.

The parties do not disclose the amount of the transaction, but experts suggest that it is about at least 100 million rubles. Previously, Hypee made money on a paid subscription.

Yandex needs the purchase of Hypee to develop the format of short vertical videos that will appear in a separate Zen feed. The company hopes that this will complement the platform’s formats and attract new authors.

Market participants called Yandex’s decision “belated”. They believe that the success of the purchase will depend on whether the company can offer advertisers new solutions and formats that differ from those offered by TikTok and other short video services.

Source: Kommersant