Seoul, Korea 22th Aug - beSUCCESS has successfully closed a Pre-Series A round with investors from Korea, USA, China, and Japan, in order to grow its expanding brand as a leading media platform for news on Korean startups, host of Asia’s largest tech conference, beGLOBAL, and now also a database platform with its recent launch of Beginning (beginning.xyz). Among the firms that participated in this round include DCM Ventures, Strong Ventures, 500 Startups(US), Hardy Farm Venture(CN), Tokyo Founders Fund(JP), TheVentures, SEUM, MOCA Ventures, Startup X(KR).
Ki Hong Bae, partner of Strong Ventures that led the seed funding round in 2011 for beSUCCESS, expressed strong conviction that beSUCCESS would continue serving an important role as a nexus for Korean startups and the global community, having seen the company fulfil its mission to build and sustain South Korea’s startup ecosystem in three, distinct phases: first, by establishing Korea’s foremost tech media beSUCCESS and second, by organizing Korea’s largest tech conference beGlobal, which since its conception has catapulted Korean startups into the global limelight.
With the launch of Beginning, beSUCCESS is implementing phase three of its value proposition. Beginning is an online database platform for investors seeking access to key metrics and analysis on Korean startups and a means to directly connect with Korean startups. The strong brand that beSUCCESS has built over the years convinced Hardy Farm Ventures to choose beSUCCESS as the first of many Korean startups it seeks to fund. “beSUCCESS is more than just a media startup, it is a database, it is a conference brand, and it is a hub that both entrepreneurs and investors trust,” said Kevin Ren, partner at Hardy Farm Ventures.
James Jung (Hyun Wook Jung), founder and CEO of beSUCCESS, explained that the new round of foreign investments in beSUCCESS has implications for the greater startup community in Korea, as it shows growing and continued interest by foreign investors in Korean companies, interest that beSUCCESS hopes to capture in the form of real opportunities. Jung plans to invest the newly available funds in order to grow Beginning, a culmination of the broad network of investors and companies that beSUCCESS has built over the years, while also continuing to build the media and conference brands.
