Fundraising Fox애플파이스튜디오
1 known investors
Find your way into 애플파이스튜디오
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to 애플파이스튜디오
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the 애플파이스튜디오 team. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Korean mobile content studio behind Hello Pet virtual pet agent app and Branch, an interactive comics platform with token-based creator rewards.
Also known as ㈜애플파이스튜디오 · Applepie Studio · 애플파이스튜디오
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Applepie Studio is a Korean mobile content company known for Hello Pet, a virtual pet agent app, and for Branch, an interactive comics and webtoon creation platform. Hello Pet places 2D pet characters on the phone screen using an Android-based overlay screen technology that the company says addresses battery and memory consumption. The pets include both in-house characters and characters licensed from established comic artists, and they interact with users through scenario-based speech bubbles, situational awareness and voice recognition.
Branch is positioned as a new format of interactive comics that combines animation-like and game-like elements. It supplies thousands of background, character, item and effect images so that users without drawing skills can assemble webtoon stories. Branch also operates a token economy in which likes received from readers are converted into cryptocurrency, intended to compensate creators for their work.
The company states it accumulated content production, server operations and social service operating know-how through Hello Pet since its founding in 2015, and has applied that experience to the Branch project.
Business model
The company builds and operates free-to-download consumer mobile apps distributed through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, monetizing an installed base built around its Hello Pet character agent and extending into a creator platform, Branch, where reader engagement (likes) is converted into cryptocurrency rewards for authors through a token economy.
Traction
More than 10 million cumulative downloads, over 1.5 million monthly users and a user rating above 4.5 are reported by the company; Hello Pet reached 7 million worldwide downloads in February 2018 and was selected among Google Play's Best Apps of 2017, ranked first in the iOS entertainment category after its September 2017 launch, and won a Service Innovation Grand Prize at the 2016 Korea Industry Awards and the Korea Mobile Award Best App of September 2015.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
The company reports more than 10 million cumulative downloads domestically and overseas, over 1.5 million monthly users, and an average user rating above 4.5, and describes continued growth based on brand recognition gained from its global service.
The company cites proprietary Android overlay-screen technology that mitigates battery and memory problems, a library of thousands of pre-made backgrounds, characters, items and effects that lets non-artists produce webtoon stories, characters created in-house and in collaboration with established comic artists, and a token-based reward mechanism that converts reader likes into cryptocurrency for creators.
Technology
An Android-based overlay screen technology designed to limit battery and memory impact while displaying persistent 2D pet characters over other apps; interaction features including scenario-driven speech bubbles, situational awareness and voice recognition; and a Branch token economy that converts reader likes into cryptocurrency rewards, with a cryptocurrency issued in August 2018.
Go-to-market
Distribution is through app store publishing on Google Play and iOS, supported by app store editorial recognition (Google Play Best Apps of 2017, first place in the iOS entertainment category), domestic awards, and Korean media coverage in outlets including Money Today, Edaily, Seoul Economic Daily, Yonhap News and YTN Science.
Consumer mobile users of virtual pet and character apps, and amateur or aspiring webtoon creators who want to produce interactive comics without drawing skills, plus their readers.
Geography
Headquartered in South Korea, with English-language and global releases of both Hello Pet (English version from April 2016) and Branch (global service from May 2018) distributed internationally via Google Play and the App Store.
History
Applepie Studio was incorporated in April 2015 and in the same month signed a KRW 300 million investment agreement with K Cube Ventures. Hello Pet 1.0 launched on Google Play in September 2015 and was named Best App of September in the Korea Mobile Awards. In March 2016 the company received a Service Innovation Grand Prize at the Korea Industry Awards, released an English version of Hello Pet in April 2016, Hello Pet 2.0 in August 2016, and reached the finals of the Next Startup Awards in December 2016. Hello Pet 3.0 followed in June 2017; Hello Pet Mini and an iOS version arrived in September 2017, with the iOS release ranking first in the entertainment category, and the app was selected for Google Play's Best Apps of 2017 in December 2017. Hello Pet passed 7 million worldwide downloads in February 2018. The company then shifted focus to Branch, releasing the Korean version on Google Play in April 2018, launching global service in May 2018, adding the Branch Heart (BH) reward system in version 1.4 in July 2018, and shipping Branch 1.5 with a cryptocurrency issuance in August 2018 alongside the release of Hello Screen and a planned Hello Pet House.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 15
launches, deals, and filingsBranch 1.5 shipped alongside the issuance of the project's cryptocurrency, Hello Screen was released, and Hello Pet House was slated for release.
The iOS release reached number one in the App Store entertainment category.
The company signed an investment agreement with K Cube Ventures for KRW 300 million in the same month the corporation was established.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Alumni 애플파이스튜디오 펫 에이전트 서비스 '헬로펫 ...applepie4.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 애플파이스튜디오 do?
- Korean mobile content studio behind Hello Pet virtual pet agent app and Branch, an interactive comics platform with token-based creator rewards.
- Who are 애플파이스튜디오's investors?
- 애플파이스튜디오's investors include Kakao Ventures.