Korea Startup Ecosystem
Korean Gaming Heavyweight, Smilegate, Buys $112 million stake in Sundaytoz, Becomes Biggest Share Holder
2014년 03월 28일

Smilegate, Korea-based maker of online games, has just announced a $112 million buyout of 20% of Sundaytoz’ stock in a move that makes the company behind global success, Crossfire, the largest stake holder. Smilegate is one of the most successful players in the Korean online gaming industry. For the last last two consecutive years Smilegate has been the proud owner / developer of the world’s highest grossing online game. Crossfire, with revenues of…

Life Moves Fast at Korean Startups, Shakr Media’s Newest Hire Shares His Experience
2014년 03월 28일

Within two weeks of joining Shakr, a Seoul and San Francisco-based video creation startup, I was on a 4:00 p.m. flight to San Francisco to represent the company at Google’s annual conference for it’s biggest advertising partners. The plane touched down at 9:00 a.m., I went into the bathroom at the airport to put on a suit, grabbed a “you might need two hands for that” sized black coffee, and went straight…

Introduction to Top 100 Korean Tech Startups You Should Know: Part 4
2014년 03월 26일

Demoday, a web platform for Korean Startups, recently came up with a list of 100 hot Korean startups in 2013, and we thought this might be a great chance to write an introduction to the Korean startup world. Every week, we will introduce you to 20 startup companies that got into the list in alphabetical order. Here’s the first 10 companies of our list for this week: Handstudio Category: Contents Key People:…

Introduction to Top 100 Korean Tech Startups You Should Know: Part 3
2014년 03월 20일

Demoday, a web platform for Korean Startups, recently came up with a list of 100 hot Korean startups in 2013, and we thought this might be a great chance to write an introduction to the Korean startup world. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we will introduce you to 10 startup companies that got into the list in alphabetical order. Here’s our list for this week: Cosmic Color Category: Commerce Key People: Jerry Yang…

Introduction to Top 100 Korean Tech Startups You Should Know: Part 2
2014년 03월 18일

Demoday, a web platform for Korean Startups, recently came up with a list of 100 hot Korean startups in 2013, and we thought this might be a great chance to write an introduction to the Korean startup world. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we will introduce you to 10 startup companies that got into the list in alphabetical order. Here’s our list for this week: BCNX (Ads/Marketing) Key People: Dae-gyu Chang (Co-founder, CEO), Young-uk…

Introduction to Top 100 Korean Tech Startups You Should Know: Part 1
2014년 03월 13일

Demoday, a web platform for Korean Startups, recently came up with a list of 100 hot Korean startups in 2013, and we thought this might be a great chance to write an introduction to the Korean startup world. Every week, we will introduce you to 10 startup companies that got into the list in alphabetical order. Here’s our list for this week: 4:33 Creative Lab (Gaming) Key People: Jun-Mo Kwon (CEO), Tae-hwan…

As Facebook Buys WhatsApp, What’s The Future of Korea’s Top Messaging App, Kakao Talk?
2014년 02월 20일

Kakao Corp., developers of Korea’s favorite messaging service and social platform, Kakao Talk, will be listing its stock publicly next May. This follows the recent news that SundayToz also successfully listed its stock in August 2013, and demonstrates further growth in the domestic tech industry, that has been attracting much attention in the international press attention recently. What’s more interesting though is the potential opportunity that Facebook has presented following today’s news that…

German-Korean Entrepreneur Disrupting $5Bn Delivery Market, Bets on Offline-Online Megatrend
2014년 02월 13일

Naldo today announced a new online instant-delivery ordering service that aims to disrupt a domestic industry worth $5Bn. The company provides “immediate delivery of almost any item for B2B and B2C customers within a maximum timeframe of 90 minutes via a browser-based online ordering-system”. The existing offline instant-delivery market in Korea is already huge and sprawling, but Naldo aims to provide a much more streamlined and cost-efficient experience to customers. The early…

South Korean Startup Support Gets Mixed Reception
2014년 02월 11일

Published on the Wall Street Journal, February 11 2013 First Year Raises Efficacy Concerns; Government Says Project Continues to Improve In the past year, the South Korean government has sponsored a raft of overseas programs to give its young startups exposure to global tech trends. Government officials here hope that a thriving local startup scene could soon put fresh Korean technology names on the global stage—and they are sparing no expense to…

BootstrapLabs and Coolidge Corner Investment Partner to Launch Bootstrap Accelerator Korea
2014년 02월 07일

Partnership creates first Korea-­focused accelerator for tech startups with a dedicated Silicon Valley Fast Track™ program Silicon Valley-­based BootstrapLabs, a global accelerator for foreign entrepreneurs and Seoul-­based Coolidge Corner Investment (CCVC), a technology venture firm with $22M under management, today announce the formation of BootstrapAccelerator Korea, a Seoul-­based 6 month accelerator program specifically designed to assist young and promising korean technology startups to relocate in Silicon Valley and build global businesses. Additionally,…

South Korean Startup Flitto Crowned ‘Best Startup In The World” At Seedstars World In Switzerland
2014년 02월 06일

The Korean ecosystem is buzzing with the news that one of their own, translation service Flitto, has this week been crowned as the best startup in the World at the final of the Seedstars World global startup competition. The team at Seedstars spent almost nine months travelling to 20 different cities across the globe to find the best startups in each region. The regional winners were then invited to the grand final, and offered…

Korean Couples app Between is now Japan’s top social networking app
2014년 02월 04일

Originally posted on The Bridge: Kei Kajitani is the Japan general manager of Korea-based VCNC, heading up the company’s efforts to promote their couples app Between here in Japan. After the app’s recent 2.0 release back in December, it appears to have picked up some steam in a number of markets around the world, including Japan where it is has ranked as the top social networking iOS app since Wednesday. He tells…

Another Korean Bitcoin Startup, CoinPlug, Raises $400k from US Investors
2014년 02월 01일

Korean startup Coinplug has closed an investment round paid partly in bitcoin. This news comes shortly after another Korean Bitcoin startup, Korbit, also raises $400k from a dream team of Silicon Valley investors, as reported by beSUCCESS here. Coinplug raised $400,000 from Cupertino-based fund SilverBlue, with half the amount raised in bitcoin and the rest in fiat currency. The startup plans to launch a digital currency exchange, wallet and merchant platform in Korea in mid-December….

With $1.5 Million Investment, Korean Startup Smile Mom Launches Mobile Community For Moms
2014년 01월 27일

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…

Korea’s No. 1 Tech Startup Event From beSUCCESS is Open! Join beLAUNCH 2014, May 14-15 2014 in Seoul
2014년 01월 24일

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…

Korean Bitcoin Startup Korbit Gets $400k in Funding from Dream Team of Silicon Valley Investors
2014년 01월 20일

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,…

Toward A ‘Virtuous Circle’: Government Supporting Startup and Venture Ecosystem
2014년 01월 14일

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…

Korea’s Tech Start-ups Report Improved Results Last Year
2014년 01월 02일

According to a recent report Korea’s tech start-ups enjoyed positive growth in sales, operating profits and net profits alike in 2013, which will give President Park’s government a boost as they conclude their first year in office, and a year that saw a surge in government involvement with the tech startup community in Korea. According to the report startup’s average sales amounted to 6.72 billion won last year, with their average operating…

Mobile Couple App Between Hits 5 Million Downloads, Releases Version 2.0 As Part Of Global Expansion Strategy
2013년 12월 20일

South Korea, 20 December 2013 – Leading mobile couple application, Between, today announced that it has crossed the 5 million global downloads milestone. This announcement comes together with the launch of Between 2.0, the first major update since its official release in March 2012, as the company continues its push into the global market. South Korea is currently Between’s strongest market, with 60% of downloads coming from the country. Japan and China…

Korea’s Drive Towards A Creative Economy Explained
2013년 10월 08일

Since the election of President Park earlier this year The Korean Government has embarked on an ambitious and expensive crusade to bring innovation to the fore of the Korean economy and to encourage a retreat from the country’s current dependence on a tiny number of huge family run businesses (Chebols), such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG and telecom SK. In order to achieve their ambition the government has been pumping money into the…