Chairman, Brian Kim (left)
CEO, Jimmy Rim (Right)
Founded in March, 2012, K-Cube Ventures made a big first step by investing in 6 startups within 4 months of its start.
What do we need for a growing the Korean startup ecosystem?
"This question, which we asked ourselves, created 'K-Cube Ventures'. There were not many opportunities for the early stage companies in Korea. They needed 'Money' and 'Practical experiences' from other entrepreneurs who went through same difficulties. That's how K-Cube Ventures are established," said Jimmy Rim (CEO).
What does Investment mean to K-Cube Ventures?
"We are investing only in game, mobile, internet and technology based services. We believe that we can best support when we invest in what we thoroughly know.When we invest, we are looking at the "Team" of the company first. "People" are the most important part when we make our decision. We also love to see companies thinking of "how to solve a problem". Problem-solving idea as a business is really attracting to us," Rim added.
In terms of the amount of investments they make, it may vary on a case by case basis. Each company is in its own phase, some of them might be very early stage, some might be 'ready to go'. It also depends on the businesses. K-Cube Ventures invests anywhere between 100 million to 1 billion(Won).
Friends Program
Space for Friends Program
Friends program is considered a unique idea to improve general Korean startup eco-system. The biggest problem for people who want to start their business is building a team with right people. A competent entrepreneur is not enough to make a successful business. Friends Program by K-Cube Ventures aims to help each of this single competent entrepreneur to meet right people to work with by providing a space for free of charge. Everyone can apply through friends@kcubeventures.co.kr with the attachments following:
1. Work that shows your capability (CV, Portfolio, previous works etc)
2. Introduction of the service/app that you develop (less than 1 page)
3. Contact Number (Mobile phone)
Invested businesses
1. Frograms
Frograms considered the situation that everyone is looking at the same page and contents online, as a problem and developed a service to solve the problem by recommending individuals based on personal preferences. Watcha, which became the #1 movie recommendation engine in S. Korea, is the successful one. It is still getting more popular rapidly. Google also admitted their rating system and asked them for cooperation.
2. Wishlink
K-Cube Ventures made 500 million(Won) investment in Wishlink last year. Wishlink was founded in 2011, preparing for a mobile fashion related service. "it is quite certain that people will enjoy mobile shopping on their smartphones and tablet PC with high-quality images of items and the service is being developed by the best Fashion& Shopping experts in S. Korea." said Mr. Rim.
K-Cube Ventures is an investment company but it is not an usual investment entity that only values money. Rather it is established to solve a chronic problem of Korean venture eco-system. It encourages young entrepreneurs to take the challenges. There are already some early staged ventures who were recognized by K-Cube Ventures. K-Cube Ventures' s approach is expected to bring a positive energy for the Korean startup business environment.
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