Frip

What Frip does

Frip is a two-sided consumer marketplace operated by Frientrip Inc. (주식회사 프렌트립), connecting independent hosts who run hobby and leisure experiences with individual participants in South Korea. The platform spans 18+ categories including outdoor activities, craft/DIY, fitness and beauty workshops, sports, baking, cultural/art events, online classes, self-development workshops, social gatherings, and travel, with pricing ranging from free events to premium experiences up to 89,000 KRW and Frip-exclusive discounts of 50-89% on select products. The company is self-described as Korea's #1 hobby leisure exploration platform, supported by 11-50 employees, a Seoul headquarters, and native iOS and Android applications.

The product is built as a mobile-first marketplace with a consumer-facing website (frip.co.kr) and a dedicated host onboarding platform (new.frip.host/start), supplemented by a social feed (Frip Feed), curated magazine-style collections, and a BucketTrip curated travel vertical. AI-based matching (AI매칭) is deployed in premium social events such as wine parties and coffee meetups to pair participants, representing a focused, event-level application of recommendation and matching technology. User acquisition runs through owned channels including Instagram, Facebook, Naver Post, and YouTube, and sign-up is integrated with KakaoTalk and email.

The business model is a marketplace take rate on transactions between hosts and participants on a pay-as-you-go basis, with no enterprise contracts or B2B customer base disclosed. Frip is a private, venture-backed company that has raised approximately 8 billion KRW across multiple rounds, the largest being a ~$6.3M (8B KRW) round in April 2022 from a five-investor consortium including Kyobo Securities, Magna Investment, Nice Investment Partners, SJ Investment Partners, and K Bridge Investment; Yanolja is a strategic investor from 2018. Operations are confined to South Korea, and the company is led by CEO Soo-Yeol Lim (임수열) and Chief Product Officer Yonggeun Kwon (권용근).

Name

Frip

Legal name

주식회사 프렌트립 (Frientrip Inc.)

Website

https://frip.co.kr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Frip is a South Korea-based two-sided marketplace that connects independent hosts offering hobby, leisure, social, and travel experiences with individual consumers, monetizing via transaction commissions across 18+ activity categories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Hobby & Leisure Experience Marketplace

NAICS

Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621)

akta.pro primary industry

Creator-Led Course Hosting & Monetization Platforms (EDAFAIAC)

Keywords

• Hobby experience marketplace
• Leisure activity booking
• Local experience platform
• Peer-to-peer experiences
• Online activity marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Marketplace Commission: Platform operates as a marketplace connecting hosts offering hobby/leisure experiences with participants. Takes commission on transactions between hosts and customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Frip operates a peer-to-peer marketplace platform connecting experience hosts with participants across 18+ hobby and leisure categories, including outdoor activities, crafts/DIY, cultural/art experiences, social gatherings, and travel. Participants browse, book, and pay for experiences via the website and native mobile apps, while hosts list and manage their offerings through a dedicated host support platform (new.frip.host). The platform monetizes by taking a commission on transactions between hosts and customers.

Product overview

Frip operates as a peer-to-peer marketplace platform for hobby and leisure experiences in South Korea. The core Frip Platform connects hosts who create and run diverse experiences—including outdoor activities, crafts/DIY classes, cultural/art gatherings, social/dating events, and travel—with participants who book them. The ecosystem includes a companion Host Support Platform for hosts to manage their offerings, and the Frip Mobile App for discovery and booking. The platform features social/community features like Frip Feed for user-generated content sharing, and employs AI-based matching in premium social experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Frip Marketplace Platform Peer-to-peer hobby and leisure experience marketplace connecting hosts offering experiences (activities, classes, tours, social events, travel) with individual participants who browse and book them. Spans 18+ categories including outdoor activities, crafts/DIY, fitness, cultural/art experiences, social gatherings, and travel.
• Frip Host Support Platform Dedicated platform at new.frip.host for experience hosts to create, list, manage, and monetize their offerings (classes, tours, gatherings, travel experiences) on the Frip marketplace. Includes Super Host verification tooling.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Airbnb Experiences: Airbnb's Experiences product is the global category leader for host-led activity booking, offering the same marketplace structure (hosts offering experiences to participants) that Frip operates. Both monetize via take-rate and emphasize curated, host-led local activities. Airbnb Experiences is Frip's most direct global comp and the standard against which Frip's defensibility is measured.
• Klook: Klook is Asia's leading activities and experiences marketplace, booking tours, attractions, and local experiences across APAC. Headquartered in Hong Kong with strong Korea and Japan coverage, Klook directly competes with Frip for Korean leisure bookings — particularly inbound tourist activities — using the same host-led marketplace model.
• KKday: Taiwan-headquartered KKday is a travel-experience marketplace operating across Asia, including Korea, with a comparable product breadth (local tours, workshops, tickets). It is one of Frip's closest competitive peers in the Korean market for both outbound and inbound experience booking.
• GetYourGuide: GetYourGuide is a global direct competitor running an experiences marketplace connecting travelers with tours, activities and host-led experiences. Business model (commission-based marketplace), target customer (leisure activity bookers), and category breadth closely align with Frip's positioning.
• Viator (Tripadvisor): Viator, owned by Tripadvisor, is a large-scale experiences marketplace offering tours, activities, and host-led experiences globally, including Korea. It is a direct peer in the same marketplace category and overlaps with Frip in attracting both inbound travelers and locals booking leisure activities.

Emerging players

• ClassPass: ClassPass is a subscription-based marketplace primarily for fitness and wellness classes. While narrower than Frip (no DIY/social/travel), it overlaps meaningfully in the fitness, workshop, and skill-building categories Frip hosts and could compete for host supply in those segments.
• Musement: Musement is a European-based experiences marketplace offering tours, attractions and activities. It overlaps with Frip on marketplace structure and category mix, though smaller scale and largely Europe-focused. Comparable as a regional peer moving toward global coverage.
• Withlocals: Withlocals is a smaller-scale marketplace for host-led local tours and experiences across Asia and Europe. Directly comparable business model and target audience to Frip, but at smaller scale and without Korea-specific density.

Broad incumbents

• Yanolja: Yanolja is Korea's leading travel and accommodation platform and a Frip investor. It is a broader incumbent in Korean leisure that could expand into activities/experiences, creating both partner and competitive overlap with Frip's offering.

Regional players

• Creatrip: Creatrip is a Korean platform focused on services and experiences for inbound travelers and local discoverability. It overlaps with Frip's travel/leisure categories and serves a closely related Korean audience, though with a more tourism-concierge framing rather than hobby-classes focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCgYVh2nh8nfC0wHEdkWLLZg?view_as=subscriber
• Facebookfacebook.com/frientrip
• Instagraminstagram.com/frip_korea
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/frientrip

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds8 records

Investors14 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Frip