With the government’s measures to create a virtuous circle out of the start-up and venture ecosystem in full swing this year, there is growing anticipation that this year will be the first year of the second venture era. The anticipation is due to the fact that most of the venture industry’s long-cherished desires were already fulfilled. “Now it is time for the market to swing into high gear,” stated representatives of venture…

Proof that there is a huge opportunity for tech startups breaking new ground is confirmed. The size of the market for new trend-setting devices such as 3D printers and Ultra HD (UHD) TVs is expected to double in 2014. This presents new opportunities in the saturated global electronics market. The market size for newcomers in the industry, such as wearable devices and Bluetooth speakers, is expected to grow 107 percent this year…

President Park Geun-hye urged scientists and information-communication technology (ICT) experts Friday to work harder to develop new technologies and innovate, saying South Korea can’t afford any stalling in such efforts in a fast-moving global economy. “New technologies and industries are now moving forward at a dazzling pace in many parts of the world,” Park said in a speech at a New Year’s meeting with leaders of the science-technology and ICT sectors. “We…

Korean camera app Cymera, developed by SK Communications, has surpassed 60 million in cumulative downloads. Launched in March 2012, Cymera achieve over the 10-million downloads in just nine months and reached the 60-million milestone in just one year. It is also worthy of note that Cymera achieved 45 million downloads in foreign countries, a rare feat to be achieved by a Korean dev-house. Cymera gained popularity first in Southeast Asian countries, including…

It’s been a while since we have reported any news from Kakao Talk, which developed mobile messenger KakaoTalk in 2012. The company now plans to make forays into the news services market, having established itself as one of the ‘new platforms’, which have been billed as one of the hot trends to watch for 2014. Kakao is preparing to provide news service on a curation format that enables users to take a…

I have published a number of stories about Google, Naver and Daum, the not so fair battle-ground of Korean internet, but this piece is also very worth while sharing, as it goes into great depth about the issue and also suggests that finally Google may be on the rise. The Korean hit drama series “Respond, 1994” which went off the air two weeks ago after attracting a huge following on cable TV,…

‘Anipang 2,’ SundayToz’s follow-up release to its big hit ‘Anipang’ from 2013 has been accused of plagiarizing one of their hottest competitor games, Candy Crush Saga. Until now, ‘Anipang 2’ has only made basic announcements about its developing, and not the details about the game. The title was released on Google Play Store on January 13th and showcases a different game stage structure from its predecessor, Anipang. The issue is that the new…

It has never happened before that a Korean startup has been able to secure early stage funding ($400k in this case) from such a high profile Silicon Valley investor line-up. The news that Korbit has achieved this momentous step heralds the start of a year that has already been billed as having the best potential ever, for Korean startups. While the value of the investment may seem small by Silicon Valley standards,…

Japan has been much harder hit by the global financial crisis than its North East Asian neighbors and has since struggled to catch back up. The country’s recovery has of course further been hampered by the devastating tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima. Suffice to say that Japan has seen better days, and now news that in the lucrative semiconductor market Japan is also losing out to Korea. According to research…

Seedstars World startup competition will hold its Grand Final in Switzerland on February 4th. 20 startups from emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes including Seoul regional winner Flitto will compete to win a $500k equity investment. Seedstars World (SSW), the worldwide startup competition in emerging markets and fast growing startup scenes is two weeks away from its final event. Seedstars World team travelled to 20 different cities in 2013 to bring back…

When asked about his ambition for KPOP UNITED, CEO Richard Choo said; “We are looking at every point of disruption in the K-pop industry and aim to leverage many of the exciting opportunities that we are seeing.” He believes that by helping stamp Korea on the map as a purveyor of the best of modern pop culture through K-pop he is also increasing the brand power of Korea as a nation. With…

beSUCCESS, Korean startup media organization, events organizer, and global connector is happy to officially announce that their flagship startup event, beLAUNCH, is back in 2014 in a year that is already heating up to be one of the most promising for Korean, Asian, and Global entrepreneurship. The event will be held May 14 – 15 at the brand new Dongdaemun Design Plaza in the heart of Seoul. In addition, this year there…

Supported by President Park’s effort to foster a Korean creative economy, a deluge of cash flooded into the Korean startup ecosystem in 2013. Including many conferences hosted by the government-affiliated organizations, countless programs to assist startups were organized both domestically and abroad. Of the many themes these programs publicized repeatedly, one keyword that stood out was “Going Global”. The concept of “global” is trendy and attractive yet so vague and such a…

Originally posted on TechCrunch Moms feeling guilty about baby-spamming Facebook with their child’s photos and their every precious moment now have a more private alternative for those updates, thanks to a new mobile social network called Smile Mom. The app, which is designed to connect moms with others nearby, has already grown to 14,000 users during its beta testing phase. The founders behind the new app are formerly of Paprika Lab, a…

President Park Geun-hye championed her creative economy vision at this year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She suggested creative economy as a way out for countries experiencing slow growth amid high unemployment and income inequality.At the same time, she pitched Korea as an attractive place to invest to the participants in the forum. She held one-on-one meetings with the CEOs of some of the world’s top corporations to…

Recent statistics show that 1.5 million to 2 million foreigners live in Korea, accounting for over 3 percent of the nation’s population. A range of programs are being offered to help them better adapt to life in Korean society. In a bid to help immigrant families, university student Ji Byung-ju came up with a unique idea early this year to provide immigrant mothers with postnatal services from midwives of the same nationality. “Despite…

While many believe that the USA leads the world in innovation, with Silicon Valley as the heart of everything, there are other nations that are making an impact. Bloomberg recently conducted a survey of 215 countries to determine their ‘Innovation Quotient’ and ranked South Korea as number 1 in the world for 2013. South Korea has achieved phenomenal economic growth over the last four decades, and is now is a position globally…

The below is the review segment for Korea. For the full article please click here to be redirected. Samsung 4Q13 profits to fall: Samsung Electronics has estimated its operating profits for the fourth quarter of 2013 at about KRW8.3 trillion(US$7.8 billion), down 18% from the prior quarter. Consolidated sales for the 4Q are set to stay flat on quarterat KRW59 trillion, Samsung disclosed. The forecast operating profits represent a 6.1% decrease compared tothe KRW8.84 trillion…

Echelon 2013 is organized by tech media and events platform e27, and is one of the region’s largest tech and business events held over two days in Singapore to celebrate Southeast Asia’s emerging technology industry. It features 50 of the region’s most promising startups, renowned global and regional speakers on Internet and Digital businesses and 10 exceptional startups pitching for the title of Echelon 2013’s Most Promising Startup. Organized annually since 2010, Echelon has evolved to become…

Having achieved 18M downloads and the number 1 spot in 20 countries back in 2009 with Oven Break, the company’s first release, Korean game developer Devsisters has just released their global follow-up, Cookie Run, on the Line games platform. Despite early success with Oven Break, they struggled to maintain momentum and effectively withdrew from the global market, choosing to focus on their home turf in Korea. This was due struggles in maintaining…