To the developers of this game, thank you sooooooo much for making this healing game. 

After a fun night of playing, I woke up in the morning completely refreshed.

This game is truly life changing. It has forever changed my life, it’s making me become a better person. Thank you, Tanghulu Master.

Tanghulu Master

The spring of 2023 was a busy time for updates to the Generation Alpha’s favorite game, Fidget Town (see more). The team at Whoyaho, however, never stopped observing trends and they spotted Tanghulu. They saw more and more kids eating it on the street, and had a hunch it would be a good idea. 

‘Why not make it into a game?' 

They started working on the game in earnest three months later, in August. During the ideation phase, they were heading in the direction of a tycoon-like game, and they decided that the complexity of the genre wasn't their strongest suit, so they put it on hold. But the Tanghulu trend was getting stronger, and kids loved it, so they thought it would be a shame to let it go. They decided to give it a shot. 

They set a release date target of the Chuseok holidays in September, so they had just one month to go. There was no direction, no genre, just the idea of Tanghulu. In the end, this situation played to the strengths of the Whoyaho. The time crunch forced them to be relentless and focus on the essentials. 

'Why do kids love Tanghulu?'

‘The color. The sound of eating. The experience of making the Tanghulu. Let's keep this and skip everything else.'

They had to choose what they were good at and what they could do, so it naturally became a simple game. It's not a game that requires concentration to play well, but a game that you can play casually and enjoy the audio and visual elements. Demand for the game exploded as it met with a user base that valued emotional and healing elements, and within five days of its release in Korea, it reached the top of Google Play's popular games chart.

Unintended Global Success and Ranked #1 in Six Regions

Topping Google Play charts in South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia

One day, they started to see an increase in the number of users accessing the game from overseas IPs. The game was only available for download for Korean accounts, but they realized that the users who were mostly kids were sharing tips how to sign up for a Korean Google Play account, downloading the app and playing the game using the machine translation. A video of the game posted by TikToker ‘lazy sory’ went viral around the world, reaching over 1 million views (currently 6.3 million views). Whoyaho wasn't quite ready to go global, but the global syndrome had already begun.

The global audience for the emotional elements of the game was much larger than expected, and there weren't enough quality games to satisfy it. The team decided to make it available for international download and released translated versions in Japanese and English. The metrics were worth the wait. Not only was there a strong response from Asian countries familiar with Tanghulu, but also from the Americas.

The food theme and the visual and auditory elements are universal appeal. With the momentum of reaching the top 10 on the Play Store in Indonesia without any special marketing, the team challenged for and achieved the first number one spot in overseas markets. Following this, the game's popularity skyrocketed in the Philippines and other countries, reaching the top of the popularity charts in six countries in total. It was a rewarding result of the confidence and teamwork of the six members.

- Sep.2023 : #1 free game on Google Play Korea within 5 days
- Dec.2023 : #1 in 6 regions (Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippine)
- Mar.2024 : 10M+ downloads on Google Play 

The Driving Force: Satisfied and Happy Users

The biggest motivation for the team is the heartfelt reviews from users, who tell Whoyaho team how much they love the cute characters, how they've been comforted by them, and how their lives have changed forever. 

“The cute characters make kids feel affectionate and give them unconditional love, and I think it makes them feel happier to have something to give love to than to receive love.” Whoyaho's CEO Minyoung Jun says. 

Whoyaho is creating new value in an untapped market: kid's mobile devices. Kids create their own worlds with endless, even if incomplete, stories. Mobile devices are now the easiest way to fulfill their need for expression, and Whoyaho wanted to give them a place to express their creativity in a fun and safe way.

“We didn't set out to make a game,” he says, “we just started thinking about what the generation alpha likes to do the most.” At its core, Whoyaho is not a game company, but a company for a new generation.

Our friendship

Honggyu and Minyoung

Minyoung, the founder of Whoayaho, has a warm energy that makes you feel good to be around. We first connected before he even incorporated, and when he decided to start his own business in the spring of 2021, we had a lot of conversations. We wanted to be there for him and supportive of his vision, and that's how we came to our first investment in Whoyaho.

A curious dialogue based on trust was the beginning of our friendship. We are friends and family, someone who can rejoice with you when you are happy and grieve with you when you are sad. 

The Whoyaho team set up base at Klim Park and incorporated in May 2021. Because Whoyaho stayed with us at Klim Park for a year until June of the following year, we were able to watch the growth of their first mega-hit game, Fidget Town. The follow-on investment came right after Fidget Town launched, and all metrics were going upwards at a rapid pace as the game went viral. We had a lot of confidence in the team and the follow-on investment process was completed quickly. We invested in both funding rounds, and we were happy to help propel the team we loved.

Whoyaho’s Vision

A playground where kids around the world can have fun and unleash their creativity

Fidget Town, Onion Game, and Tanghulu Master - all three of Whoyaho's successes have one thing in common: they launched their apps even when they weren't perfect. The fear of disappointing people can keep you from launching, but when you have a strong vision, you have the courage to take action when you need to. Minyoung believes that ‘we don't have the answers, our users will tell us the answers,’ so he launched as planned and it was the best timing. 

He feels that children's imagination and creativity are limitless, but there are still not enough mediums to capture it. Their world is constantly changing, and big companies are slow to keep up with it, so there is a constant need for new playgrounds. The goal of Whoyaho is to create the best playground for children, where they can have fun, run around, and let their creativity run wild. When that vision is fulfilled, Whoyaho will be the Disneyland on mobile, and users will grow together through unique experiences.

“In 10 years' time, the world will be changing even faster. And it is Gen Alpha who will lead the way. I hope they grow up to have many happy memories when they look back on their childhood.”

Minyoung Jun, CEO of Whoyaho