Latest on Korean Startups
IPOs
Kurly, SSG.COM, Oasis fast-track 2022 IPO plans
Competition among South Korean e-commerce companies for initial public offerings is expected to get even fiercer next year. Kurly Inc., the operator of premium grocery delivery platform Market Kurly, is aiming for listing in the first half of 2
Oct 29, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
-
Mergers & Acquisitions
Naver, Mirae Asset ramp up investment in India’s promising startups
South Korea’s top online platform operator Naver Corp. and brokerage giant Mirae Asset Securities Co. are aggressively investing in promi...
Oct 28, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
4 Min read -
AgTech
AgTech attracts global billionaires’ investment
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Softbank Group founder Masayoshi Son have recently shown a common interest in a surpr...
Oct 25, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
5 Min read -
K-pop copyright trading platform Musicow prepares for IPO
Musicow Inc., South Korea's first music copyright trading platform, has embarked on the process to go public on the back of its eye-catching growth ...
Oct 21, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
1 Min read -
Entertainment
DearU: A K-pop fan engagement platform success story
No company would know better than DearU Inc. that powerful fandom can turn into fast money.The South Korean startup that started as a software devel...
Oct 18, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min readlanguage -
Korean startups
Korean P2P lending platform 8Percent raises near $40 mn
South Korea-based online peer-to-peer lending platform 8Percent has secured 43.5 billion won ($38.3 million) in an investment round led by the Silic...
Oct 15, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Korean startups
Luxury reseller EndAnd offers one-of-a-kind authentication service
One of the biggest concerns in purchasing a secondhand luxury item is being uncertain if the item is real or fake. And South Korea-based luxury resa...
Oct 13, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min read -
Tech, Media & Telecom
Naver's metaverse platform seeks over $40 mn in funding
Naver Z Corp., the operator of South Korea's metaverse platform Zepeto, is in the early stages of talks with investors to raise more than 50 billion...
Oct 13, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
1 Min read -
Korean startups
SoftBank-backed Riiid acquires Langoo, eyes Japan's edtech market
South Korea-based artificial intelligence startup Riiid is looking to boost its presence in Japan following the acquisition of its Japan-based distr...
Oct 08, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Mergers & Acquisitions
Toss acquires Tada, taps into mobility market
South Korea-based mobile financial platform Toss, which has been expanding its operations across the financial sector, is set to foray into the mobi...
Oct 08, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Korean startups
Yanolja, HanaTour team up to take lead in travel market
South Korea’s No. 1 accommodation booking platform Yanolja has joined forces with the country's leading travel agency HanaTour Service Inc. to...
Oct 06, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
4 Min readlanguage -
Korean startups
Portrai to revolutionize biopsy quality through AI technology
Biopsy is one of the most used methods to examine a person’s illness, taking a tissue sample of a patient for analysis. Usually, the samples a...
Oct 06, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min read -
Korean startups
Akuodigital digitizes scribbles into legible documents
South Korea-based Akuodigital Corp. is a startup that uses artificial intelligence technology to digitize all types of paper documents. And instead ...
Oct 06, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
E-commerce
Korea's first-generation platforms collapse, ringing in new e-commerce era
South Korea's first-generation e-commerce platforms, which have been around since the 1990s, are rushing to sell off their businesses as their valua...
Oct 05, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Fintech
Toss Bank debuts amid government's tightening of loans
South Korean government’s toughening stance on household loans is having a direct impact on the fast-growing internet banks in the country. Th...
Oct 05, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
4 Min read -
Entertainment
Naver bets on SoftBank's e-book company to reclaim lead in Japan
South Korea’s major portal operator Naver Corp. is looking to firm up its partnership with SoftBank Group Corp. and increase its presence in J...
Oct 05, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min readlanguage -
Future mobility
Kakao Mobility: Unravelling Korea’s astounding growth in mobility sector
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that South Korea’s mobility sector has undergone a period of rebirth in 2015 when the country&rsqu...
Oct 01, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
long read -
IPOs
K-pop fan engagement platform DearU begins process for Nov IPO
How much will you pay to chat with your favorite K-pop groups such as TWICE every day? A South Korean startup generated 20 billion won ($16.9 millio...
Sep 30, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min readlanguage -
Blockchain
Korea’s NFTBank to launch NFT funds this year
The global market of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain-based tokens, which each represent a unique asset such as a piece of art, digital conten...
Sep 30, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Korean startups
Capstone Partners: Korea's 'guardian angel' for early-stage startups
In 2018, a South Korean food startup GoPizza Co. was on the brink of shutting down. Lim Jae-won, GoPizza's founder, had launched the business with a...
Sep 28, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min read -
Retail
StockX enters Korea's resale market, poses threat to domestic platforms
The rapid growth of the resale scene in South Korea has driven the world’s No. 1 resale platform, StockX, to venture into the country, signali...
Sep 28, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Korean startups
Korea property startup Kasa to launch exchange in Singapore
Kasa Korea Co., a property investment platform, is set to expand its services to help global users invest in real estate in the world by obtaining l...
Sep 28, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
1 Min read -
Korean startups
Digital stationery marketplace Webudding charms MZers
Stationery products such as planners, calendars and notepads have long been essential everyday items for busy people. And the stationery market has ...
Sep 27, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
4 Min read -
IPOs
Kakao Pay pushes back IPO to November despite tight schedule
Kakao Group’s payment services unit Kakao Pay Corp. has pushed back its IPO to November due to growing concerns regarding the impact of regula...
Sep 24, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Markets
Market boom drives more S.Koreans to become angel investors
Angel investing has become widely prevalent among South Koreans. The practice of providing capital for new and small business ventures, which were t...
Sep 24, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min readlanguage -
Korean startups
Korean startup FuriosaAI's Warboy overtakes Nvidia
South Korea-based artificial intelligence semiconductor startup FuriosaAI Inc.'s silicon chip has delivered higher performance than the US-based chi...
Sep 23, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Exclusive
Cosmetics startup Birdview readies for 2022 listing
South Korea-based Birdview, the operator of leading cosmetics platform Hwahae, is aiming to make a trading debut as early as the first half of nex...
Sep 23, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Future mobility
SK's car-sharing service SoCar Malaysia sees valuation top $210 mn
Car-sharing platform SoCar Mobility Malaysia has raised around 65 billion won ($55.6 million) from South Korean private equity firm EastBridge Partn...
Sep 16, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min read -
Korean startups
SIA analyzes satellite data for companies, government and ESG
There are about 2,000 satellites in space, orbiting the earth and generating countless images without being confined to geographical boundaries. And...
Sep 15, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
3 Min read -
Batteries
SK, Group14 Technologies to build $726 mn battery material plant
SK Materials Co., the industrial gas manufacturing affiliate of SK Group, said on Tuesday it is jointly investing 850 billion won ($726 million) wit...
Sep 14, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
2 Min readlanguage
Hidden Champions
-
Koh Young Technology Inc
Published: Sep 21, 2020
Last updated: Jan 20, 2023
-
Buhmwoo Group
Published: Apr 21, 2021
Last updated: Jan 30, 2023
-
DCM
Published: Dec 09, 2022
Last updated: Jan 30, 2023
-
3G Technologies
Published: Sep 25, 2020
Last updated: Jul 06, 2021
-
Point Mobile
Published: Sep 14, 2021
Last updated: May 10, 2022
Future Unicorns
-
BJ BIOCHEM
Published: Oct 21, 2022
Last updated: Nov 04, 2022
-
Grip
Published: Apr 19, 2021
Last updated: Feb 23, 2022
-
iCore
Published: Oct 07, 2022
Last updated: Apr 17, 2023
-
SuperBin
Published: Nov 30, 2021
Last updated: May 06, 2022
-
Sandbox Network
Published: Mar 22, 2021
Last updated: Jul 23, 2021
Latest News