The A-list: the people you should meet if you want to do business in Korea

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2013년 01월 17일 Sue J. Hur

The A-list. The star-studded lineup. The white list. The list of Korean people you should meet if you want to do business in Korea.

[Investors]

K Cube Ventures : CEO- Jimmy Rim. Successfully invested in 9 different startups. One of the hottest firms in the community. It kicked off in 2012, and are focusing on early-stage companies (inc. startups) in mobile and IT. Their investments range from KRW 0.1 billion to KRW 1 billion.
Coolidge Corner Investment : CEO- Hyuck Tae Kwon. This VC was established in 2010 and is focusing heavily on startups and early stage investments. CCI is also running its own startup competition programs for young entrepreneurs, which are both open to Koreans and foreigners. It operates its own incubating programs and invests up to 50% of the alumni.
Bon Angels : CEO- Simon Kang.
Capstone Partners : CEO- Eunkang Song. Will be investing a lot in 2013.
Strong Ventures : CEO- Kihong Bae/John Nahm. Located in L.A, USA. Established in 2011.
Strong Ventures was born with the distinctive intent to invest in and incubate early-stage companies including startups. The firm was co-founded and co-led by Kihong Bae (a former Microsoft Manager and author of the best-selling 'Startup Bible', and John Nahm, a former manager at Dialpad (acquired by Yahoo!) and a former VP in investing in startups, but also in supporting their portfolio companies grow globally, leveraging their international business expertise.
Stonebridge Capitals: (current Fast Track Asia): Fast Track Asia is consistently investing in startups. Fast Track Asia was established in 2008. Its portfolio includes TMON (Korea's equivalent of Groupon, acquired by Livingsocial in 2010), Cyworld, and JYP (K-pop producer). Stonebridge is actively sourcing deals ad investing in startups.

[Events]

Go Venture : A startup conference that is held every last Thursday of the month, at Gwanghwamoon.
V-Forum : V-Forum is held every first Tuesday of the month at Seoul National University.
Egloos Forum : Startup Forum at Yonsei University.
beLAUNCH : Organizer of Korea's biggest startup conference.
GAME-NEXT : A gaming company by Wildcard's CEO Yoonsang Kim.

[Schools/Universities]

Yonsei Enterprise Support Foundation : Lots of activities, with Egloos Forum, angel investment and so on.

[Incubators/Accelerators]

KStartup : Recently received investment from Google.
Primer : Led by CEO Douglas Guen, as an incubating company and mentors people from the idea stage.
Sparklabs : Accelerator of companies that plan to go overseas to the states.
IgniteSpark : CEO- HwanJin ‘David’ Choi. Constantly growing as an accelerator.
Fast Track Asia : Investors of TicketMonster got together and established this startup incubator.
TJ Heaven(Startup Party) : Led by CEO Gyumin Cho. An angel investor company, and focuses mainly on startup mentoring.
Founders Camp : CEO- Heeseung Kang. Venture accelerator. Owns a BI centre.

[Media]

Venture Square : CEO- Myung Seungeun. An excellent startup media with a long history and quality contents.
Platum : CEO Sangrae Jo and Hwanjin Choi. A startup media.
beSUCCESS : A startup media supporting the overseas expansion of Korean startups.

[Governmental Services/Organisations]

SVI : Inbae Han, the General Manager, is helping out startups.
KISED : Lots of efforts done by expansion to Silicone Valley.
KOCCA : Contents exports and ecosystem efforts.
Korea Venture Business Association : Efforts made on the development of domestic venture companies.
Korean Enterprise Foundation : Led by Kihyun Geum. Working on the expansion of entrepreneurship spirit.
Asan Nanum Foundation : Holds competitions. Working on the startup expansion and startup investment.

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Sue J. Hur

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