Hong Kong startup TravelFlan’s Ara Buddy consumer focused content and service is now available on Samsung Smartphones in South Korea

Ara Buddy, Hong Kong headquartered startup TravelFlan’s lifestyle solution which provides contact-free day-to-day consumer focused content and service is now available on Samsung Smartphones in South Korea. By integrating with TravelFlan’s AI Digital Solution and SMART Merchandising suite, Ara Buddy is able to provide services to Samsung Smartphone users via Samsung’s RCS and Samsung Daily platforms. Ara Buddy transforms the platforms from a communication tool to an all-in-one ecosystem connecting businesses with ever-evolving consumer demands like discount coupons, local activities and travel, the company said in a press release.

TravelFlan was selected as one of the portfolio companies by Samsung C-Lab Outside, a corporate startup incubation program where the inventiveness of Samsung electronics and startups meets and synergy is created. Through the program, Samsung has provided supports and opportunities to TravelFlan to create Ara Buddy, which was piloted on Samsung smartphones in South Korea late 2019. Despite COVID-19, Ara Buddy have achieved over 120% growth in active users MoM and over 7% overall conversion.

“Launching Ara Buddy service on Samsung devices is a milestone for TravelFlan and the market. Samsung electronics has long been the pioneer in the industry. It’s always been our goal to create value for both our business partners and consumers through our S2B2C business model. This project showcases what our technologies and solutions can do – bringing benefits to businesses and end users,” said Abel Zhao, co-founder and CEO of TravelFlan.

Initially, Ara Buddy was offering local activities and consumer focused product and service. Starting in August 2020, TravelFlan will be partnering with some local top brand names to launch food & dine service on RCS platform, which are expected to drive more in-platform activities. In 2020 and 2021, TravelFlan plans to expand the service scope to include special edition consumer merchandise and special events; as well as expand to more markets in Asia like Hong Kong, Indonesia and more.