Sparklabs fourth batch recently kicked off and I had the chance to speak with one of their most promising startups, OnnuriDMC. OnnuriDMC operates a mobile advertising platform, CrossTarget, that the founders believe has solved a major issue for mobile advertisers; being able to track users in the mobile app environment in real time. Background In the PC environment advertisers are able to easily track user behavior through cookies, but this is generally…

실리콘밸리 메세징 스타트업인 메세지미(MessageMe)가 야후에 10월 3일(현지시각) 인수됐다고 테크크런치가 보도했다. 메세지미는 2012년도에 창업되었으며, 2012년도에 트루벤처스로부터 약 150만 달러(한화 약 16억원)을 투자받은 것을 시작으로, 2013년도 3월에 190만 달러(한화 약 20억)을 추가 투자 유치했다. 같은 해 5월에는 구글벤처스, SV엔젤, 안드레센 호로위츠 등으로 부터 약 1,000만 달러(한화 약 106억 원) 가량을 시리즈 A 단계로 투자 유치했다. 메세지미는 작년 3월 iOS 버전 론칭 후 같은 해 500만 유저를 달성했지만, 그 후 특별한 성과를 내지는 못했다. 최종 업데이트는…

For as much as the last fifteen years Korea has been emerging as one of the front-runners in global tech innovation, but has failed time and time again to capitalize fully on the opportunities. Smartphones, 4G mobile internet, MP3 players, social networks, and mobile payments are just a few examples. Nowadays, the U.S. and China, not Korea, are spearheading the growth of these markets and Korea is at a dangerous position, likely…

SK 텔레콤이 미국 실리콘밸리 모바일 커머스 플랫폼 “샵킥(Shopkick)”을 인수했다는 사실을 월스트리트저널이 26일 보도했다. 이는 SK 텔레콤의 미국 커머스 시장 진출을 위한 움직임으로 보인다. 현재 구체적인 인수 조건 등은 밝혀지지 않았지만 그에 앞서 샵킥이 어떤 회사인지 알아보는 것은 의미가 있다. 샵킥은 2009년 6월 시리악 로딩(Cyriac Roeding), 제프 셀링거(Jeff Sellinger), 아론 에미(Aaron Emigh)등 3명이 공동 창업한 회사이며, 현재까지 3번에 걸쳐 총 약 2천 만 달러(약 209억 원)의 투자금을 유치했다. 주요 투자사로는 에스브이엔젤(SV Angel), 링크드인의 창업자인…

The second beGLBOAL in Silicon Valley, September 12th, clearly demonstrated that Korean entrepreneurship has come a long way in the last 12 months. Here we take a look at two of the companies that showcased at the event which again gathered some of Silicon Valley’s top investors and entreperneurs to discuss global entrepreneurship and investing. Ten carefully selected Korean startups also showcased, hopeing to attract the attention of US investors, partners and…

Kakao, the provider of KakaoTalk, a mobile messaging application and global mobile social platform, in partnership with global IT service provider LG CNS, has announced the launch of KakaoPay, a new mobile payment option for KakaoTalk users in South Korea. With over 93 percent of smartphone users in Korea currently using KakaoTalk, the new service is expected to provide a significant boost to Korea’s growing e-commerce industry. Kakao’s latest venture into the e-commerce/mobile payment space underscores…

The profile of Korean entrepreneurship has been steadily increasing over the past three years and some have heralded 2014 as the year that could make or break this ecosystem on the move. beSUCCESS has been at the forefront of tracking growth of the ecosystem over the past three years through its media channels and global startup and tech focused conferences. The organization will hold its stateside event September 12th in San Fancisco….

Healthcare wearables startup Ybrain announced today it closed on $3.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Stonebridge Capital bringing company’s total raise to $4.2 million. The Korea-based startup, founded in Feb 2013 by a Caltech neuroscientist and Samsung engineers, offers healthcare wearables for Alzheimer’s disease patients. Ybrain is a brain signal based wearable device start up building mobile health and wellness solution platform for the healthy and impaired….

The award has recognized the company’s ability to ‘harness creativity and shape an impactful mobile ecosystem’ Kakao, the provider of KakaoTalk, Korea’s leading mobile messaging application and mobile social platform, has been named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, making it the first Korean company to be recognized since 2001. Chosen from among 24 of the world’s leading technology organizations, the award recognizes the company’s ability to design transformative technological…

Spoqa is a Seoul-based startup that operates Dodo Points, a tablet-based loyalty platform for local merchants. Since its launch in April 2012, 1,500 local merchants in Korea signed up and Spoqa has driven 2.5 million customers to its partner merchants. Today the company has announced that it has closed its second round of funding, putting its total funding raised to $3.9M US dollars. With this round, Spoqa aims to aggressively expand its…

Easiaid is a Korean Start-up, obsessed with Media Mining, which seeks to track everything on TV shows in order to give Ad viewing power back to the customer. At a time when heritage advertising has lost its appeal and it efficacy, content producers are desperate to find new ways of monetizing content. The industry is wide open and innovation is leading future trends that could change the ways we consume branded content…

Kakao Corp., the company behind Korea’s biggest mobile messaging platform, aims to launch a wallet service in the next few months. This is the most recent addition to the Kakao platform, as the company continues to diversify its portfolio of services for users. It is hoped that Kakao Corp.’s namesake payment platform ‘Bank Wallet Kakao’ will help boost the ironically nascent mobile wallet industry in South Korea. Ironic, because Korea is praised…

This article was co-authored by Alan McGlade (Digital Entertainment Ventures) and Nathan Millard (beSUCCESS) and appeared on Forbes on July 18 2014. As little as five years ago Korea’s startup scene was undistinguished, but now the nation has taken an important step towards establishing itself as a key technology hub in the Asia Pacific region and an essential partner for global investors and tech businesses. Two young Korean startups have gained the…

자신의 정체를 드러내지 않고 다른 사람들과 의견을 공유할 수 있는 애플리케이션, ‘시크릿(Secret)’은 은밀한 주제나 논란거리가 되는 이슈에 관한 의견을 익명으로 퍼뜨릴 수 있다는 점에서 사람들의 관심을 끌고 있다. 이러한 서비스를 제공하는 시크릿이 2천 5백만(한화 255억4,500만 원) 달러의 투자를 유치했다고 지난 14일 테크크런치가 보도했다. 시크릿은 이번 해에만 3번의 투자를 유치했으며, 서비스를 시작한 작년의 초기 투자금까지 합치면 총 3,630만 달러(한화 371억 2,038만 원)의 자금을 마련했다. 시크릿은 투자 유치 소식과 함께 페이스북으로 로그인 하는 기능과 사용자가 특정…

아마존이 공식적으로 미국 현지 시각으로 지난 목요일에 미국연방항공국 (Federal Aviation Administration)에 무인비행기, 드론 테스트를 시애틀 상공에서 가능토록 허용해줄 것을 공식 요청했다. (*공식 서한 다운로드) . 아마존은 작년 12월 프라임 에어라는 드론을 활용한 배송 서비스 계획을 공식 발표한 후, 이번 제출된 서한을 통해 “현재는 8~9세대의 드론이 개발되어 시간당 80km 속도를 낼 수 있으며, 판매 제품의 86%인 2.3kg 이하로(5파운드) 의 무게를 배송할 수 있다”고 전했다. 그동안 아마존은 미국 연방 항공국(Federal Aviation Administration, FAA) 법으로 인해,…

Hearing about employees giving up their highly-prized, stable, and well-paid corporate careers in Korea’s tech behemoths used to be incredibly rare. But the young team at ASDTech has done exactly that, choosing to give up salaries of well over $100k for the excitement and promise of entrepreneurship. Having founded ASDTech in 2013 after leaving LG Electronics, they developed their while-label cloud service, ‘Cloudike’, and have now secured their first major clients. Furthermore they have…

The Korean startup ecosystem has been exploding over the last couple of years. As more interesting startups begin to emerge, so the support services to power their success also become more diverse and more mature. There are a number of key accelerator programs in Seoul now, that offer a range of services and finance for early stage Korean companies. Interestingly there is also now a distinct push towards helping Korean startups connect…

There are a number of good resources for finding information on Korean Technology, business and tech start- ups. Some are a bit more difficult to find, so here is a list of the most helpful news outlets and startup resources for Korea. beSUCCESS: If your reading this article than you no doubt know who beSUCCESS is and what we do. But just in case: beSUCCESS is a South Korean media platform about startups,…

페이스북이 70만명에 달하는 이용자들을 대상으로, ‘감정 조작 실험’을 진행했다는 사실을 시인했다.  페이스북의 최고운영책임자 쉐릴 샌드버그는 지난 2일, 미국 DNTV와의 인터뷰를 통해,  “감정 전이 현상 실험은 내부에서 진행하는  다양하고, 일상적인 제품 테스트의 하나일 뿐이다. 제대로 설명되지 못해(Poorly Communicated) 유감이다.”라고 밝히며, 페이스북의 개인정보와 프라이버시 정책의 중요성을 강조했다. 논란이 되었던 실험은 지난 2012년 1월,  일주일동안 영어를 사용하는 페이스북 회원들 70만명을 대상으로 실시되었다. 페이스북 데이터 과학자들이 실험 대상이 된 70만명의 이용자 뉴스피드에서 ‘긍정적’이거나, ‘부정적’인 감정을 담은…

As has been reported widely in Asia, South Korea is using the fact that Windows XP is no longer supported as a reason to walk away from Microsoft completely. While the rational for this stance makes sense; updating to new versions of the Microsoft software can be expensive and time-consuming, the government should also immediately discontinue its use of Hangul. Hangul is a Korean software package similar to MS Office that is used as the default (and…