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KOBIL’s State of Global Super Apps 2022

KOBIL Security, KOBIL Identity, KOBIL Connect, and KOBIL Pay app screenshots

Making the decision to invest in and evolve the technology that drives your business can be the hardest part of your digital transformation journey. This is because it represents an organization’s new desire to embrace change and sharpen its competitive edge, but there are also new tools out there available to help accelerate and amplify how organizations reach their transformation goals.

One of the most powerful and versatile tools is super apps, which introduce a new way for your organization to communicate with and orchestrate your customers’ interactions with your brand’s products in a unified mobile application. And, in this increasingly mobile world and connected economy, introducing a super app is not only a differentiator but also opens up the possibility to engage with new types of customers in a way that balances security and convenience.

Thanks to advancements in the technology and new players in the market, developing a super app went from a multiyear and costly investment to one that is obtainable for almost any organization, regardless of their industry or scale. For example, super apps are already being used in the following industries:

Icon of a bank

Banking

Icon of hands holding a shield

Insurance

Icon of a government building

Local government

Icon of a hand holding a heart

Healthcare

Icon of a moving truck

Logistics and transportation services

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Sports

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Daily services

640

Banks’ mention of super apps in their annual reports has increased more than sixfold between 2019 and 2021.

This report is a result of a yearlong digital radar research process and aims to provide a clear picture of the current state of super apps that are emerging globally.

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Learn more about how super apps can amplify your digital transformation

What is a Super App?

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Platform Business Model

Super apps add value by facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers in an ecosystem with the aim of capturing part of that value. In other words, super app platforms enable people to get what they need from each other.

Definition

The term super app was coined by BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis back in 2010. He defined it as a “closed ecosystem of many apps” that people would use every day because they offer such a seamless, integrated, contextualized, and efficient experience.

31466

Page Views

5829

MQLs

Super App Conversation Size

People all over the world have been discussing the super app market and its players. The fact that the volume has doubled since the start of 2022 shows us that this trend is an exponential one.

In the last 12 months, super apps have had:

583000
conversation volume
2000000
engagements
Speech bubbles

The conversation is ignited by English-speaking people belonging to the 25-34 age group who are entrepreneurs, executive managers, and investors. Geographically, the U.S. dominates the data. A whopping 60 percent of the super app conversation is being held by those in this demographic in the U.S., followed by India and Indonesia.

Screenshots of KOBIL software on smartphones

Social Media Conversation Size

The conversation on social media has just started. After our one-year research period, we saw an undeniable fact: Social media, specifically Twitter, is overflowing with buzz around super apps.

The Takeaway

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Social media audiences are quickly discovering the concept of super apps and are interested in learning more. The messages are clear: The ideal timing for super apps as an investment opportunity is now.

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80
X

Conversation Volume on Twitter in the Last Year

287
K

Current Twitter Volume

549.9
K

Twitter Engagement

2.8
B

Potential Twitter Reach

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Online News Radar Conversation Size

Super apps have been a hot topic on digital news outlets throughout the entire year.

The Takeaway

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We found that traditional media outlets are viewing the super app ecosystem more from a business perspective, focusing on customers, user acquisition costs, and the business models that may arise with them. This gives businesses investing in super apps the opportunity to capitalize on this growing area of technology news coverage.

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54.1
K

Current News Radar Volume

544.9
K

News Radar Engagement

284.1
B

Potential News Radar Reach

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Current Players in the Super App Space

United States

Walmart

Jerry

Upgrade

Varo

SoFi

Dave

Figure

PayPal

WhatsApp

Robinhood

Oportun

Wealthfront

Affirm

MoneyLion

Square

Avant

Betterment

Current

H&R Block

Rocket Money

United Kingdom

Revolut

Starling Bank

Curve

Olympia

Monzo

Monva

Money Supermarket

Turkey

Istanbul Senin

Getir

Latin America

RecargaPay

Mercado

Magalu

Libre

Nu

Kueski

Rappi

UnDosTres

Interbank

Neon

PicPay

France

Lydia

Alan

Russia

Yandex

Tinkoff

Sweden

Klarna

Spain

Payflow

South Korea

Kakao

Toss

UAE

Careem

Al Hilal Bank

Nigeria

Jumia

Max.ng

Japan

Rakuten

Line

India

MobiKwik

PhonePe

Flipkart

Paytm

Egypt

Mnt

Halan

PaySky

China

Alipay

WeChat Pay

Germany

N26

South East Asia

Gozem

Gojek

Tonik

Zalo

Grab

AirAsia

BigPay

Ascend Money

Revenue Opportunities for Super Apps

In recent years, Southeast Asia is mirroring China’s economic trajectory with a corresponding spike in the popularity of super apps. Progress is also being seen in Latin America, India, Africa, and other parts of Asia. The United States is still in the early stages of adoption, presenting new opportunities for businesses to tap into new revenue and growth channels.

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$51B
2020 Revenue from Russian Super Apps
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$134B
Expected 2025 Revenue from Russian Super Apps
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163%
Revenue Growth Expected

What Experts are Saying About Super Apps

“Despite all their convenience and benefits, super apps pose new security and privacy challenges to both users and service providers. The foundational prerequisite for providing a trustworthy super app lies in having the capability of creating a perfectly delicate balance between user experience and security.”

-Dr. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi, Professor, Center for Advanced Security Research, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany

“Millennials and Gen Zers organize almost everything in their daily lives with smartphones and would rather use an app than visit a bank.”

-Dr. Daniel Fasnacht, CEO and founder of Ecosystem Partners AG

“The winners of the super app revolution will not be the fastest, the biggest, or the most famous. Rather, it will be those who provide the best usability in the most secure way.”

-Dr. Soner Canko, Founder of SC Yönetim Danı manlığı

“Super apps offer enterprises a composable solution, leveraging a modular framework to rapidly develop and deploy features and updates while delivering customized experiences.”

-Gartner