English Articles
Joint investment by K Cube Venture and Partners Investment of US$1.7m into game MCN specialist startup, Kong Doo Company.
2015년 10월 06일

On the 6th, the joint investment was confirmed between K Cube Ventures, a specialist investor into internet, mobile and technology and Partners Investment. The investment is into a game company Kong Doo Company which specializes in MCN (Multi Channel Network) for games and the investment worth US$1.7m (KRW 2b) Kong Doo Company Professional is Korea’s premier gaming MCN originally starting with StarCraft gamers Hong Jin Ho and Kim Taek Young. For the…

Korean beauty commerce company, Althea gets backing from Silicon Valley’s 500 Startups
2015년 10월 06일

Althea the top Korean beauty commerce company in South East Asia has been successful in securing an investment from 500Startups, which is among the best known Silicon Valley venture capitals. Although the company was only launched in April this year, they successfully secured an early stage investment with Bon Angels in May. Five months down the track, they have caught the eye of Silicon Valley’s 500Startups with a new investment. Key members of…

Daily Hotel, a Korean hotel reservation app receives investment boost from Silicon Valley’s ‘Sequoia Capital’
2015년 10월 06일

Daily Hotel, a Korean hotel reservation app has received an investment from Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital, a venture capital that invested into Apple and Google. This marks the third investment for Daily Hotel following Bon Angels (a venture capital primer) backing of the company earlier this year. For Sequoia which traditionally makes investments in the USA, this is the just the second investment into a Korean company with the first being Coupang. Shin In Shik…

StudyMax, an English education startup in Korea wins $3.8m investment
2015년 10월 07일

StudyMax, is a Korean startup that develops English educational content optimized for today’s highly mobile society. On the 7th October, investments totalling US$3.8m (KRW 4.5b) lead by LB Investment, DS Investment and two other venture capitals was confirmed. Past investments secured by the company include an early stage investment by Bon Angel Venture Partners in 2010 and a Series A investment from NeoPlug in 2012. This new investment comes three year after…

5 Hot Tips for Founders from Asia’s 2 Top VCs
2015년 10월 08일

Editor’s Note: Choon Yan (CY) Tan leads PayPal and Braintree’s startup, accelerator and incubator activities across Asia Pacific. He has experience in banking technology, and previously led Google’s supply chain integration team in California, with additional specialties in data analytics on Google Android and Chrome products. CY is also a payment optimisation mentor in various major accelerators such as ONL, MaGIC and SBC and a speaker at regional startup conferences such as…

O2O startup 12CM, receives US$4.4m worth of new early investments
2015년 10월 08일

12CM the original developer of ‘smart-stamp’ technology has received US$4.4m (KRW 5.2b) worth of investments from Korean domestic investments institutions. The four-way joint investment contributors are Capstone Partners, KDB Development Bank, Aju Investment Bank and Suprema Investment. For Capstone Partners, the investment is a follow up to their early stage investment in the company in late 2014. In developing smart-stamp technology, 12CM have registered more than 200 patents and to integrate into industry…

Korean startup ‘Venticake’, gets US$5.9m investment for camera app Retrica
2015년 10월 08일

Venticake, the developer of camera app ‘Retrica’ has secured investments totalling US$5.9m (KRW 7b) from US venture capitals Bessemer Venture Capitals, Goodwater Capital and Altos Ventures. With more than 250 million downloads globally, Retrica is a camera app market leader throughouth Asia and South America. The company plans to target new geographical areas as well as concentrate efforts on improvements for existing users. The experience of Venticake come from various IT fields;…

Korea Rising ( Part I: Series Chronicling the Rise of Korean Startups )
2015년 10월 09일

Editor’s note: Senior Director Corporate Development at Baedal Minjok I. There is no greater time to be in Korea than now. Yes, that’s coming from a Korean American that has lived his entire life in the Bay Area and landed in Seoul 10 months ago. Hard to digest right? ( I can feel the collective eye roll of native Koreans ) 이사람, 진짜 미쳤다… My grasp of the language is mediocre at…

A smart menstrual cup to keep track of your period
2015년 10월 09일

Looncup, a smart menstrual cup will give women a better understanding of your monthly flow. It can be inserted into women’s vaginas during period. It can send the data including fluid volume and color and analyze the data by comparing it from previous data. Looncup is made of silicone with a sensor, battery and Bluetooth antenna. It can be connected through bluetooth to an app on your iPhone, Android or Apple Watch, and can…

3 reasons to attend beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015
2015년 10월 13일

Since beginning in 2012 as beLAUNCH, beGLOBAL has grown and successfully concluded the 7 startup conferences in Korea and U.S. On the 15th October, the event’s U.S. annual event will be hosted at the ‘The Village’ in San Francisco.  In the ecosystem of startups, beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015 provides invaluable networking opportunities between Asia and U.S . So for budding startups and investors looking at the next top technology startup from Asia, the following provide three reasons why you should attend this event.  Key…

K Cube Ventures invests into first person shooting game developer, Saltlab
2015년 10월 13일

K Cube Ventures, which specializes in investments into mobile, internet and technology companies confirmed on the 13th of October an investment of US1.7m (KRW 2b) into Saltlab a first person shooting game developer. Saltlab was formed in 2007 by gathering  top talent with experiences in famous award winning Korean games ‘Aba’, ‘Metro Conflict’ and ‘Red Doc’. Most team members have more than 10 year experience in the genre of  first person shooting game, in either development…

Global music distribution startup ‘Pison Contents’, received US$930k from Silicon Valley Investor
2015년 10월 14일

On the 14th October, global online music distribution service provider Pison Contents announced a $1m (KRW 1.1b) investment for their music-spray distribution technology. The investment is a combined total from Silicon Valley venture capital Sazze Partners, a Korean primer investor, and startup business program (TIPS) which is state operated by the small business agency. Although Pison Contents is headquartered in Korea, their offices and research centres are operated in USA, France and China….

Kakao’s K Group Ventures acquires beauty solution provider Hasys
2015년 10월 14일

K Venture Group, a specialist investment branch of Kakao has acquired a majority (51%) stake in top beauty solution company ‘Hasys’.  Hasys is the developer and service provider of client management solutions for salons, facial salons, and nail shops. Their beauty client management solutions ‘HairJjang’ and ‘Beauty Jjang’ as at September 2015 maintain more than 9,600 clients. This represents 69% of the market for beauty company client management solutions. On the topic…

Tech Startup Conference ‘beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015’ Begins Tomorrow
2015년 10월 15일

From humble beginning in 2012 as beLAUNCH, beGLOBAL has successfully concluded the seventh startup conference beGLOBAL in both Korea and U.S. To date, the event has been attended by 15,000 people from over 25 countries. To more than 4,000 startups, the event has become a global networking platform. beGLOBAL SF 2015 will be held in San Francisco on the 15th of October and will provide an opportunity for Korean domestic startups to network with…

‘beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015’ Begins
2015년 10월 16일

Global startup media beSUCCESS ‘beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015 (beGLOBAL 2015)’ was held successfully today in San Francisco, U.S. The Silicon Valley event of beSUCCESS, ‘beGLOBAL San Francisco’ was first introduced in order to provide solutions for difficulties faced by Korean startups seeking foreign investment. This year marks the event’s third anniversary in the city of San Francisco, where the concept of startups was born. This year ‘beGLOBAL SF 2015’ will feature the…

beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015 comes to a close
2015년 10월 16일

The conclusion of the ‘beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015’ event which was held in The Village in San Francisco, marked another successful year for the startup conference. This year the flagship event recorded over 200 attendees that represented 20 startup company representatives as well as 36 startup industry identities. This combination helped to create a networking opportunity like no other.  The focus of the first presentation session was brought on two influential identities: Gunso Kim, the former head of Innovation Planning for the City of Seoul; and Jay Nath, the current CIO for the city…

Couples App ‘Between’ Launches 3.0 Update Allowing Better Personalization Features
2015년 10월 20일

South Korea, 20 October 2015 – Between, the leading private app for couples, announced the release of a major app update today. The new version, Between’s third since it’s launch in November 2011, allows couples to make their private space more personal. This update helps continue VCNC’s vision of enriching real and offline-based relationships through an emotional communication service. While affection might spark romance, maintaining a committed relationship takes serious work from…

Instagram released one-second looping video app ‘Boomerang’
2015년 10월 23일

Instagram on Thursday introduced its newest app called Boomerang. The app lets you create short, shareable animations that play from beginning to end and then from end to beginning. A single press on the capture button takes a burst of 10 photos that are automatically stitched together in a 1-second video. Shoot in portrait or landscape. Share it on Instagram. Boomerang automatically saves it to your camera roll. Other apps released recently by Instagram include…

Rehabilitation Solution Startup NEOFECT, Receives ISO and CE mark to expand to EU market
2015년 10월 26일

October 26, Seoul, Korea – Smart rehabilitation solution startup, NEOFECT announced on Oct. 26th that they received the ISO 13485 certificate (Quality Management System for the design and manufacture of medical devices) and the CE mark. NEOFECT builds an international standard quality management system providing a consistent service by eliminating any problems of damage or deterioration in all processes regarding production, storage and delivery of medical devices through receiving the ISO 13485 certificate….

K-beauty SNS Unpa receives $1.2m investment from Partners Investment
2015년 10월 26일

  Lycl Inc, the operator of Korea’s leading beauty SNS Unpa has confirmed receiving an investment worth US $1.2m (KRW 1.4b) from Partners Investment. The company has been consecutively selected as a leading medium corporation by the Department of Future Creative Science R&D. This investment has allowed Lycl Inc to secure capital position totaling US$1.7m (KRW 2b) which will allow upgrades to domestic services, provide operational stability and create a foundation for…