NAVER's (035420) digital transformation business in Saudi Arabia is expanding rapidly beyond digital twin technology into public administration and consumer services. The company is exploring ways to apply artificial intelligence, smart mapping and geospatial technology to real estate and local administration services with the Saudi real estate registry authority, while also firming up links to local consumer services such as restaurant reservations and payments. Analysts say NAVER's local "city platform" strategy — connecting government and private-sector services on the foundation of urban spatial data built through digital twins — is gradually taking shape.
NAVER Innovation, a joint venture between NAVER Cloud and Saudi Arabia's NHC Innovation, said on the 1st that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Real Estate Registry (RER) for digital transformation in real estate and local administration. The agreement was signed at LEAP 2026, a global technology exhibition held in Riyadh.
RER is the agency that manages registration data for land, buildings and other real estate in Saudi Arabia. The agreement came just after NAVER's digital twin platform won approval last month as Saudi Arabia's national standard platform for local governments. NAVER won a contract in 2023 to build digital twin platforms for major Saudi cities and has since been replicating local urban spaces in a digital environment. Following the national standard platform approval, if the partnership with RER translates into actual business, the points of contact for applying urban and spatial information technology to real estate and local administration services could widen further.
NAVER Innovation said the agreement is "part of efforts to accelerate digital transformation and drive innovation across the real estate and municipal sectors," adding that it will "strengthen technical integration and pursue data exchange within the scope that conforms to relevant regulatory frameworks, along with ways to use digital technology and AI." The partnership also covers using smart mapping and geospatial technology to improve data quality and support real estate and local administration services.
Links to private-sector consumer services are also taking concrete form. NAVER Innovation signed a separate MOU at LEAP 2026 the same day with WDDK, Saudi Arabia's largest restaurant search and reservation platform.
Under the agreement, the two companies will integrate their platforms and exchange data to connect reservations, payments, ticketing, benefits and related services into a single digital experience. They will also pursue cooperation on a joint restaurant reservation solution, digital marketing and customer acquisition activities, integrated experience packages and corporate hospitality programs.
NAVER Innovation said the ultimate aim is "to provide an integrated hospitality experience by digitally connecting the various services users need in their daily lives and travels across Saudi Arabia," adding that the MOU "leaves open the possibility of expanding the business beyond Saudi Arabia to regional and global markets."
Industry watchers say the string of agreements has clarified the range of local services NAVER Innovation intends to connect to a map-based super app. NAVER had previously announced plans to develop a super app in Saudi Arabia combining maps with AI, reservations and payments, but had not disclosed which local data and services it would link. The latest agreements confirm in concrete terms the possibility of connecting public-sector areas such as real estate and geospatial data, along with private consumer services such as restaurant search, reservations and payments, to the super app. That points to strong potential for the platform to evolve beyond simple location search into a single digital touchpoint linking the range of services people need in a city.
Preparatory work for developing local services is also under way. NAVER Innovation commissioned research from DRC, a Saudi research and consulting firm, in July. The contract is worth more than 5% of DRC's 2025 revenue and runs through the end of this year. The specific scope of the research has not been disclosed, but industry sources believe it is tied to market research aimed at expanding service businesses targeting local users beyond digital twins.
"If NAVER secures public administration and private consumer services one after another on the back of the national standard digital twin platform, it could broaden its position into a platform operator connecting urban services in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region, going beyond simply supplying technology," an industry official said.
